Preston Smith
My college semester ended a few weeks ago, and transitioning to a summer routine has been anything but easy. I got into the habit of barely sleeping due simply to the fact that I was doing so much, and now that I don’t have classes or other university-related obligations, there is no real excuse for not sleeping.
And yet I still feel sleep-deprived. Sure, I probably need time to recover from months of not sleeping enough, but with my schedule essentially only being limited by my job now (and my work times vary each week), the lack of structure is causing the same lack of sleep I experienced during the semester.
However, my supervisor at an internship I completed (who ultimately became a friend) has taught me through example the importance of balancing school/work and self-care. Sometimes you need to read a book and drink a cup of tea, sometimes you need to take a bath and cleanse yourself of the day/week at hand, and sometimes you just need to go to sleep.
Our society today tends to glorify overworking and not taking time for yourself, but I personally get extremely grouchy and become more prone to depressive episodes the longer I go without sleeping much. Last week was one of the roughest patches I have experienced in this regard in a while, and it quickly made me realize that I need to implement some structure in my summer schedule.
I leave for Europe in a little over a month, and in that time I plan to get back on a good sleep schedule while also getting back to doing some things I enjoy for fun. There are many books to be read, games to be played, and tv shows and movies to be watched – all things I had zero time to accomplish during the semester. In doing so, I hope I can establish it permanently so that the fall semester won’t be as sleep-deprived as semesters past.
What are your best tactics for establishing a good sleep schedule? Comment below and tweet us @Fuzzable with all of your best sleep advice!
