As a student, you have a lot of responsibilities to balance: university work, a part-time job, extracurricular activities, relationships, your social life, fighting the powers that be, etc.
Finding time for sleep is never easy. But exhaustion can negatively impact your work, as well as causing stress, making student insomnia a major problem. As such, getting a good night’s rest now and then is a very good idea.
Passing out at your desk doesn’t count as proper rest. [Photo: normalityrelief/flickr]Are you doomed to spend your nights awake, staring at the ceiling and worrying about essay deadlines? Not if you follow our top tips!
You might have thought ‘bedtime’ was just for children, but having a regular time at which you go to bed is a great way of encouraging healthy sleeping habits.
It’s also important to act sensibly in the evenings. This means cutting out things like caffeine, sugary drinks and alcohol before bed, as well as eating earlier in the evening.
Equally disruptive to sleep is the blue light produced by computer screens and other electronic devices. If you need to use your computer in the evenings, make sure to use a light filter so it doesn’t trick your brain into waking up!
Your bedroom needs to be a haven for sleep (we’ll leave the other things you might get up to in bed for another blog post). This means considering factors like light, noise and the temperature.
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The ideal temperature for most people will be around 16-18°C, excessive street noise can be reduced with curtains or earplugs, and light seeping in from outside can be cut out with heavy blinds or an eye mask.
Moreover, while you can try sleeping on a cheap air mattress on the floor of a box room for several months, you’ll soon realise that a good bed is worth the investment.
Annoying as it might be to those of us who are lazy and love junk food, the best way to improve your sleeping patterns long term is to eat a healthy diet and get some exercise.
Exercising in the late afternoon or early evening can be particularly helpful if you struggle to sleep, as this will use up excess energy while leaving enough time for your body to cool down before bed.
One effect of stress is that you might struggle to sleep, especially if it feels like you can’t ‘switch off’ your brain when you’re lying in bed at night. And not being able to sleep can make stress worse. It’s the very definition of a vicious circle.
However, being aware of your stress levels, and taking steps to remedy stress when necessary, can make it easier to improve sleeping habits. Diet and exercise help here, but you can also use meditation and breathing techniques to aid relaxation at night.
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