[Below is the original script. But a few changes may have been made during the recording of this audio podcast.]

You’d think that college students would be experts at sleeping. But odd hours, parties, cramming for tests, personal problems, self-medication with drugs or alcohol and general stress can wreck a student’s sleep habits. Which can be bad for the body and the mind. Texas Tech University is even offering a class called "Improving Your Sleep Habits". People suffering from sleep-deprivation are at an increased risk for obesity, diabetes, psychological problems and car crashes. Students who don’t get enough sleep have poorer attendance and lower grades.



On top of all that, a new study published in the journal Learning & Memory finds that you’re probably better off sleeping than cramming for a test. Two hundred college kids were taught to play a couple of video games that they were unfamiliar with. Subjects who learned the games in the morning lost some skills when they played again 12 hours later. But they did much better the next morning after getting a good night’s sleep. So remember: if you really want to get those A’s, don’t forget to get some zzzz’s.

—Steve Mirsky