As college students we are all too familiar with that groggy feeling when you wake up in the morning, surging out of bed like Frankenstein to turn off your alarm clock. You can hardly open your eyes and manage to turn off your alarm instead of hitting snooze for the ump-teenth time. On the bright side you can fall asleep in class, it’s not like you would pay attention to the professor’s lecture anyway, right? Besides, it’s not really your fault that you were up until four last night. Or is it?
Let’s be honest here, when you end up staying up much later than you should, you aren’t usually doing homework the whole time. How many times was it that you got sidetracked on your phone? And what time did you start your homework? Here are just a few tips to help you get back on track to get better sleep (at least most of the time, this is of course optional!).
- Get off the phone. Yea I know homework or whatever is super boring but you know how time flies on that thing. Plus when you get off it takes you approximately 3-5 minutes to restore your train of thought. ALSO, according to a study by Harvard Medical School, the blue light from your phone blocks melatonin (that’s the hormone that helps you sleep), so you can’t fall asleep as easily.
- Start your homework earlier. Seriously guys, 12:30 A.M. is not a good time to be starting your homework, what time do you get out of class?? Be disciplined and sit your butt down and just do it. It’ll relieve stress and you’ll have more free time in the long run. And don’t get sidetracked, we already had this discussion about cell phones!
- Set a bedtime for yourself. Calculate when you’re going to have to get up tomorrow, and set yourself a bedtime. Say it out loud to yourself, or even better: tell someone your plan or write it down! When you put your plan out into the real world it becomes more than just a passing thought.
- Start getting ready for bed at least 30 minutes before your set bedtime. You know it’s going to take you a while to get ready for bed, so get on it! You want to be in bed when the clock hits your set time, not just starting to get ready.
Sleep is precious. We need about 8 and a half hours to function properly (I’m sure at least one of you is arguing that you are the exception and you don’t need sleep) and you have a lot on your plate. You’ll perform better in every aspect of your life with those needed hours of rest. Your body and brain uses that time to recuperate, regenerate and organize itself. But hey it’s your choice, sometimes being a sleep-deprived zombie is fun, it is October after all.
