I am a college student. Which should mean that I survive off of red bull and 2 hours of sleep a night but I don’t. I average 8 hours of sleep every night. I know what you are thinking, “that’s impossible” or “well she must not have a hard major or a social life”. I am here to tell you that sleep is a wonderful thing and if you prioritize it you can have a hard major AND a social life AND sleep. Take from me the sleep expert, my roommate would attest to that, if you do these few things you will sleep 8 hours of the night to and feel so much better because of it!

You can't make up your sleep on the weekend

The biggest thing I’ve noticed in college is that people sleep all the time on the weekend to make up for their lack of sleep during the week. I’m sorry to break it to you but it doesn’t work like that. Going to bed and waking up at about the same time each day will make you feel like you have way more energy than sleeping in all day. Call me crazy but I go to bed at 11ish and wake up at 8 am every day and it’s great.

You have to plan ahead to make it happen

But you can’t just say you're going to bed at 11 pm and not plan ahead to make it happen. You need to have a planner and schedule your day so that you are done with what you need to do by 10 pm. I’m not going to tell you how to plan your day but as long as you do something to make sure you are ready for bed by 11. An important part of this is not procrastinating! When you start to plan your day and stick to it you will be amazed how much time you used to waste procrastinating.

Make a routine so you are able to fall asleep

At first, it is going to be hard to change your body’s sleep clock to your new schedule but there are a few things that you can do to help yourself. First off working out every day helps you in so many ways including your ability to sleep! Make sure not to work out right before bed because it makes it harder to relax. It’s also incredibly important not to be on your phone in bed before you go to sleep, it is hard to turn off social media and TV and this can hinder your ability to go to sleep. Instead of your phone or TV try and come up with a different nightly routine. It doesn’t have to be some long fancy skincare regimen but having a pattern that you always follow will help you signal to your body that its time to fall asleep.

College students these days are constantly talking about anxiety and stress, which makes sense because they are all exhausted! I hope that now instead of being proud of how little sleep you got and how much caffeine you drank, you say “man I slept for 8 hours last night!” and I’m sure everyone will be jealous and ask you how you did it!