Too Busy to Sleep?

There are many nights where you find yourself cramming in an assignment last minute or you just get preoccupied with another activity that causes you to go to bed late. This leaves you restless the next day, affecting most of your daily tasks. A major issue with college students is balancing their sleep times. Lack of sleep in college students is vital to academic success. You may have already heard that adults need 7-8 hours of sleep every night. You may be thinking to yourself that it does not usually happen! This can become problematic, although some people are able to function better on different amounts of sleep. Here are a few tips pulled from the American Academy of Sleep Medicine on maintaining a better sleeping routine:

• When given the opportunity, try to go to bed early

• When struggling to fall asleep, get out of bed and try to find something relaxing to do until you feel that you are ready to go back to bed

• Only use your bed for sleep if possible, not for studying, reading, talking on the phone, etc.

• When napping, try to only take brief naps. Naps may mess up your sleeping schedule

• Try to sleep in on the weekends. Maintaining your sleep schedule makes the start of the next week easier

• Avoid caffeine in the afternoon

• Try to dim the lighting in the evening, to prepare your body

• Stay off electronics about 15 to 30 minutes before bed

• Avoid large meals before bed, eat a small healthy snack to avoid going to bed hungry