As a college student sleep
is at a premium. I am often up very late studying for a test, writing a paper
or doing some last minute homework. But usually when I lay down to fall asleep everything
that I need to get done that week is racing through my mind. So when I saw this
article, I was intrigued, because I thought that other people could also use
some tips on getting better and more sleep.
1. Set a
specific bedtime
2. Get ready for bed well before your bedtime.
3. Make your room very dark.
4. Stretch
5. Keep your bedroom a little chilly
6. If
your mind is racing with worry, make a list of everything you
need to do the next day.
7. Tidy up your bedroom
8. Exercise.
9. An hour before bedtime, avoid work that
requires alert thinking
10. Slather myself with body lotion.
11. Put on socks if my feet are cold.
12. Yawn.
13. Tell yourself, "I have to get up now."
14. Give up, and re-frame your sleeplessness
I found some of these tips
helpful, and others are not realistic for a college student. Number 9 would
never work for me because I am pretty much studying or doing homework until I go
to sleep. Number 6 is a very good idea that I may try though.
I know I've come across a similar article to this one once before. Honestly, I should have made more of a diligent effort to attempt some of these tips, because I am the epitome of an irregular sleeper. Just last night I probably got a solid 3 1/2 hours of "sleep". This often appears to work for me, but I'm worried about what might happen later down the line when I've lived my life with insufficient sleep to carry me through the days. More specifically, I worry about the onset of illnesses or other infectious diseases due to a malnourished immune system. If I continue running on meager sleep my body might have trouble returning to a healthy homeostatic balance, and ultimately have trouble fighting off certain ailments. So, the most important tip I should seriously consider is number 1 on the list above. As easy as this sounds, it poses some complications, some of which I could ignore. I get caught up in video games, homework, or other issues that render me incapable of adhering to a regular sleep schedule (at least so I think). I like the simplicity of #12: by intentionally yawning you can trick your mind into thinking it's more tired than it might actually be, allowing an earlier bed time. Not only should I exercise and stretch more for an improved sleep, but I need to do that more often in general for an improvement in my overall lifestyle. Therefore, my goal for this approaching week is to choose 2-3 of the abovementioned tips and stick to 'em. After that I will make a sleep log to record my progress.
I thank you for this motivating advice.
I have to say that I find that I have done some of these tips and I feel like I have been sleeping better. My daily routines change from day to day, and I used to have a problem with taking naps. However, I told myself that naps was something I could afford to get rid of in my day, so that way I could use that time to do other things, and be able to sleep at night. The tips that I find most useful is the tidy bedroom, and avoiding that requires alert thinking. One thing that I would change about the list is keeping my room a little chilly. I absolutely hate being cold when I sleep, I would rather my room be at a normal temperature. Another tip that I would add to this list is not to do homework or study on your bed. The reason for this being that you associate your bed as a place where you sleep, and if you study on your bed it could go one of two ways. A)Studying on your bed will make you more sleeping while studying, making it harder to concentrate. B) It will make it difficult to fall asleep later because you would associate your bed with studying rather than sleeping. One tip that I would like to try is making a list of things I have to do before I go to bed, that way I don't think about all the things I need to do before the next day.
Here is the link I found that provided information on not studying on your bed. http://whitmanpioneer.com/feature/2009/11/09/study-myths-exposed/