Studying is a key contributor to academic achievement, but after sports practice, then your music lesson, dinner with your family, and homework that is due tomorrow, it’s already 1 am and you are just starting to study for that US History midterm. But you’re exhausted. Should you go to sleep and hope that Roosevelt’s New Deal isn’t on the test, or stay up until you finish reading the last chapter on the Great Depression? This is a dilemma for many high school students as busy schedules and procrastination are pushing students into the late hours of the night to finish studying.

However, according to researchers at UCLA, sacrificing sleep to cram for an exam is actually counterproductive.