Sleep is essential for leading a balanced life. If I don’t get sleep—some sleep, any sleep—I’ll shamble around like someone from the walking dead, no brainpower to make any proper decisions or even string a few random thoughts together.
There’s a common misconception—not just with academics, but with everyone—that we need to work hard all hours a day in order to succeed, and that proper sleep should be an afterthought. This is why students spend so many pill-fuelled sleepless nights studying for exams, and why students’ stress level are so high.
As long as I’ve been alive, I’ve had trouble with sleep. My mom informs me that even when I was a child, she’d peek into my room during the night and find me reading a book, or just staring into the dark, when I should have been zonked to the world.
As a teenager, the stressors of high school would keep me awake. Of course, being that young, I felt invincible. During my teenage years and early 20s, it was as if nothing could affect me. I believed I was untouchable, that I could go without sleep, proper nutrition, exercise; in fact, anything positive for my well being wasn’t needed. I could ingest large amounts of alcohol, tobacco, and other substances with the notion that I would still live to a merry old age, but that’s a story for another time. The long and short of it is this: my years and my careless behaviour caught up with me, and I discovered that without proper self-care, I was a doomed human being.
These are some suggestions on what will help with the hamster wheel in the head at night, help with getting a routine. I’ve found that as arbitrary as some of them seem, they hold some merit.
1. Have a relaxing routine before bed, whether it be reading or watching a bit of television. Your body adapts to routine, hence increasing the chance of a deep, blissful sleep. However, it’s advised to turn off any screens about 30 minutes before shut-eye. Kinda hard to do, but it works.
2. Keep your bedroom very dark, unless, like myself, you have an unresolved fear of the dark, in which case a night light is a grand investment.
3. Write a list before bed of all things bugging you at the moment. Then there will be fewer chances of these thoughts swirling around in your brain, which will, in turn, clear your head for a deeper sleep.
4. Last but not least, run around more throughout the day. Exercise (of any kind) lowers cortisol, and ups serotonin, the powerful drowsy-making chemical.
Good luck, and I need to quit writing now, or I’ll be up all night.