My favorite thing in the whole wide world now is the same thing it was when I was little: naps. I personally thing they are God's greatest gift to humans, right after Shrimp Po-boys and my dog Mala. But anyways, since coming to college, I have learned the importance of naps, but more so, the importance of sleep.
It has become so tempting to cram for things by staying up until 3 or 4 A.M. the night before. However, the next day I'm exhausted, end up napping for a long period in the middle of the day to make up for it, and then can't fall asleep the next night. It's a vicious cycle that ends up making us more tired and less productive.
According to the Health Center at the University of Georgia, students with a lack of sleep tend to have a lower GPA, are more susceptible to illnesses because our immunes systems are weaker, and gain weight faster. The study also reports that lack of sleep lead to an increase in depression and anxiety.
The Health Center recommends 8-10 hours of sleep per night and to establish a sleep ritual to regulate your sleeping pattern. It offers tips such as avoiding caffeine and alcohol close to sleep time, to create routine in regards to times you go to sleep and times you wake up, and to finish eating 2-3 hours before bed.
Another way to establish a routine for bed is to use a sleep app. My favorite is Sleep Cycle. It's free, and monitors my sleep patterns, meaning it uses the motion sensor in the iPhone to detect if I moved around alot or not, which is attributed to what sleep pattern you're in. With that, you can set a half hour window in which you want to wake up, and the app will wake you up when you're in your lightest sleep phase to avoid waking you up while you're in deep sleep, causing you to wake up still feeling tired. The Better Sleep Council also has these recommendations for apps.
You know how right before you go to sleep, you scroll through Facebook and Twitter, watch everyone's "My Story" on Snapchat & like pictures on Instagram? Researchers have concluded that this habit can be detrimental to your sleep pattern. In an article published by the Daily Beast, bright lights right before bed mess with the sleep hormone of Meltaonin, and the color blue is the worst (I'm looking at you, Facebook and Twitter). And app called f.lux (or Twilight for Android) reduces the blue and the overall brightness in your phone as it gets later in the night, to prepare your body for bed.
Sleep is such an important part of our day to day lives, and therefore we should be aware of it. I love my naps, but I know that I need to manage them in order to take care of my body properly.
Now you know, so go catch some zzz's. Goodnight!
