Investigating the effect of daily sleep on memory capacity in college students.

BACKGROUND: Sleep is a natural periodic state of rest for body and mind and daily sleep affects physical and mental health. However, it is essential to address intensity of sleep characteristics affecting the memory capacity of humans positively or negatively.

OBJECTIVE: Using wearable devices to observe and assess the effect of daily sleep on memory capacity of college students.

METHODS: This study assessed the daily sleep characteristics and memory capacity of 39 college students who used wrist-worn devices. The spatial span test (SST) was used to evaluate the memory capacity.

RESULTS: The study indicated a negative correlation between memory capacity and awake count on the test date and during the week before the test date (r=-0.153 (95% CI: -0.032, -0.282), r=-0.391 (95% CI: -0.520, -0.235), respectively). However, the minutes asleep on the test date and during the week before the test date positively affected memory capacity (r= 0.127 (95% CI: 0.220, 0.025), r= 0.370 (95% CI: 0.208, 0.500), respectively). In addition, spending ⩾ 6 hours and 42 minutes asleep on the test date or ⩾ 6 hours and 37 minutes asleep per day on average during the week before the test date resulted in a better memory capacity.

CONCLUSIONS: A lower awake count led to a higher memory capacity in college students, as did more minutes asleep.