The Uyen Cao
It’s April. The months have flown by. Your brain is saying, “I thought it was still January?” Apparently, we are now one third of the way through the year.
This might not be a big deal for some—you optimistic thing, you—but for many, including students, being this far into the year means that all your organisational motivation has flown out the window.
It’s not necessarily a personal flaw—everyone experiences lapses in concentration and motivation. While I will warn you that I’m no medical professional, I can say that, from personal experience, lack of sleep contributes to this drop in motivation.
I won’t get into the medical detail of sleep, but I will provide some tips to sleeping better that have worked for me!
1. Don’t set an alarm.
Something that really grinds on my nerves in the morning is interrupted sleep. I don’t care if you desperately need help making food, or you’re waking me up because I’ve slept in—you don’t wake me up.
Interrupted sleep, often in the latter stages of the sleep cycle, called Rapid Eye Movement (REM), is detrimental to your motivation levels of the following day. The natural cycle of your sleep becomes disturbed, and if this continues, the impact will continue to accumulate into prolonged tiredness. As a student, you want to avoid needing to catch up on sleep—which is a short term solution to a long term problem—when you could simply manage your daily sleep patterns to benefit you in the long run.
If you know that you need to wake up early the next morning, go to bed sooner to avoid sleeping in, and then waking up feeling sluggish and agitated.
So turn off your alarms. Warn your siblings to stay out of your room at all costs. You need a full night’s sleep.
2. Take naps.
Naps are enjoyable—it’s a universal fact. They’re also super helpful when you need to start fresh in the middle of a day. Often, I try to take naps on the weekend, because when I wake up, I know there will be more time to complete work if I do happen to oversleep.
Naps also help if you’re already feeling the exhaustion of the past week catching up to you. In this case, it shouldn’t be too difficult falling into a light sleep, and hopefully waking up rejuvenated.
3. If you’re tired, sleep.
My ultimate rule: sleep when you need to. Of course, try to avoid dozing off in class, at meetings, and during study sessions, but your schedule should accommodate any possibility of a nap at some point in a day. Set aside an hour every day to make sure you have time for a nap if you really need it.
Delaying your sleep for the sake of an essay, or a cramming session, just doesn’t do you any justice. Sleep is important, and it shouldn’t be compromised unnecessarily.
Do you have your own tips for getting a good night’s rest? Tweet us at @Fuzzable!
Disclaimer: I am in no way qualified to provide serious medical advice to readers, only personal experiences with the subject. If you are having trouble getting the right amount of sleep everyday, seek out a qualified medical professional.
