Vol. 122, No. 1 (Supplement) 2017
Supplement abstract

The student academic performance in Anatomy is related to Circadian Typology?

Published 2017-10-06

Keywords

  • Chronotype,
  • MEQ,
  • academic performance,
  • anatomy test marks

How to Cite

Pesenti, C., Galasso, L., Mulè, A., Bruno, E., Caumo, A., Roveda, E., & Montaruli, A. (2017). The student academic performance in Anatomy is related to Circadian Typology?. Italian Journal of Anatomy and Embryology, 122(1), 168. Retrieved from https://oajournals.fupress.net/index.php/ijae/article/view/2028

Abstract

In human species, circadian rhythmic expression differs among individuals and may be classified with the concept of Circadian Typology (CT), which consists of three chronotypes: i) Morning-type (M-types), subjects that go to bed early and wake up early and achieve their peak of mental and physical performance in the early part of the day; ii) Evening-type (E-types), subjects that go to bed and wake up late, and perform at their best toward the end of the day, during evening hours; iii) Neither-type (N-types), subjects that show intermediate characteristics between the previous samples. Circadian preferences may change during the life span and can influence academic and sport performance and job activities [1]. We collected data considering 427 students, 294 males and 133 females (age 18-25 years), attending the School of Sport Science, University of Milan. All participants compiled the Morningness-Eveningness Questionnaire (MEQ) for the assessment of chronotype; subsequently they have been evaluated taking into consideration their anatomy test marks. The chronotype distribution of the students was: 44 M-types, 280 N-types and 103 E-types. For M-types, the result in Anatomy exam was significantly higher compared to Evening-types (p< .01). Even the comparison between M-types and N-types showed a significant difference (p< .01). Instead, the performance for E- and N-types was similar. The present results provide a clear indication of a better academic performance for M-types students compared to E-types referring to Anatomy exam. In this way, the italian academic organization seems to be less favorable for E-types.