It must be a curse set upon college students to always be tired or seeking their next nap. Even on the days, I get seven to 10 hours of sleep I find it is hard to get myself up out of bed and on to the rest of the day. I have 8 a.m. classes every day so the need to wake up early and put myself together is definitely pressing but at the same time, my bed is always calling my name. The thought of "Just a quick nap and then I'll do" x,y, and z is never far away. Before I got lunch today I took a nap. Between classes, I took a nap.

Naps must be addicting to some degree.

Sitting in my morning classes which are for the most part my only classes and nodding off cannot be an option. Unlike my peers, caffeine does not solve this problem in the slightest; therefore I am left to my own devices. The attempt to get more sleep in one shot is not always possible due to homework, daily socialization, etc.

All in all, I do try to be in bed around 10 p.m. or so at the latest and I wake up steadily between 6 a.m. and 6:45 a.m. every day. I normally set my clothes up the day before so there is less to do in the morning. I shower at night so I am never rushing in the morning, and to maximize the amount of time I feel I have to sleep even though that amount wouldn't really change either way.

Photo by Liliana Marin on Unsplash

In most of the reading, I have done on the subject of feeling tired often the best suggestion offered is setting a sleeping schedule and sticking to it. As I have been doing this pretty well for the most part and not much has changed, I guess its time to start looking at other aspects of my daily routine. Should I eat at certain times, drink water at certain times, etc. Or is it related to the amount of food or water in my system on the daily? Perhaps its the kind of food I am eating?

Another possibility is that I need to adjust my activity level to be higher.

Higher activity levels can be linked to ease in falling asleep, staying asleep, and energy levels. Maybe its time to add more time at the gym into my schedule besides riding my bike, hiking around campus, and my workouts in the room. Besides the endorphins and stress relief which is also linked to exercise is definitely good to have around seen as it is only the beginning of the semester.