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Sleep
With all of the things students have to do, sleep often takes a backseat. Many students stay up late or even all night to complete academic assignments, and it’s common for some students to party till dawn and sleep all day. Does it really matter when you get your sleep as long as you get some? Actually, it does-your sleep schedule, or lack thereof, can have a big effect on your waking hours.
Quick Facts:
- Sleep is essential for good health and everyday functioning- lack of sleep makes it difficult to concentrate and pay attention, which could lead to poor academic performance.
- People who don’t get enough sleep are likely to have a higher Body Mass Index (BMI) than those who get enough sleep.
- Lack of sleep can be dangerous! Accidents, including motor vehicle crashes, are more likely to happen when a person has not slept enough.
What You Can Do:
- Maintain a regular sleep schedule, even on weekends. Even though you might be tempted to stay up late and sleep in on weekends, this can derail your weekday sleep schedule-so don’t vary your make-up time on weekends by more than an hour.
- Create an environment and routine that are conducive to sleep- do something relaxing before bed every night, such as reading a box or listening to soothing music. Make sure your room is dark, quiet, comfortable, and cool.
- Sleep at night. Your body is programmed to sleep when it’s dark, and it uses that time to perform a lot of restorative functions that prepare you for the day ahead. There is even some evidence that memory is consolidated during sleep. So as tempting as it is to pull an all-nighter and then sleep during the day, you’ll feel better and perform better academically if you study by day and sleep at night!
Need more information? Check out these helpful resources:
National Sleep Foundation
Understanding Sleep- National Institutes of Health
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