This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at Pepperdine chapter.

When we went into lockdown last year, my sleep cycle got so messed up. The fact that we had nothing to do except stay inside for months really got me doing things upside down. I would go to sleep at 3 in the morning and wake up 4 in the evening (yeah, I know, I’m not proud of it), have breakfast for dinner and dinner for breakfast, you know the drill. But what could I do? There was just so much time and nothing fun or new to do.

And then classes started in the fall, forcing me to start doing something about my accidentally nocturnal life. Melatonin had always helped me fix my sleep schedule in the past, and at first it worked really well. However, the more I used melatonin every night, the less effective it got. It felt like its effects went into a plateau, present but not really doing much to help me sleep. There were even times I found myself sleepy, yet my stubborn body fought the urge and surprise, I ended up staying awake!

As much as it helped in the beginning, melatonin just didn’t make the cut. Next, I tried another tried-and-true method that had helped me fall asleep in the past: I started listening to music, classical, soft instrumentals and even weird “brain wave” sounds that were supposed to make me fall asleep faster. And it did, but I’m an extremely light sleeper and it takes me a long time to fall asleep. So unless I was exhausted, I always ended up “listening” to the music till 3 or 4 in the morning.

I got so desperate I even looked up certain breathing exercises that were “guaranteed” to make u fall asleep in 30 seconds. I have to say, it’s a scam! Don’t listen to them, kids.

This went on for a couple of months — sometimes I was lucky to fall asleep without a problem, but often it was a struggle. This always made me so grumpy in the morning, and I was frequently running on just 3 hours of sleep (which I do not recommend to anyone). Many of you might know what I’m talking about, because I’m sure at least 50 percent of you all reading this are nocturnal, so you know the struggle.

When I was at the end of my rope, I came across something I never really paid attention to before: sleep stories. One night while skimming across YouTube, I got a Calm ad, which really intrigued me. So I started experimenting with sleep stories. I must say, a few months in, I’ve found it really does work for me. So far I’ve listened to almost every possible tale I can think of, from Greek mythological stories to ancient secret forbidden lands to classics like Snow White and Beauty and the Beast. I realized I definitely prefer the audio without background music because it distracts me less, and the quiet calm lets me drift away in sleep.

This journey was not easy, it took a lot of sleepless nights and moody mornings to figure out a formula that worked for me. And while I would not knowingly put myself in that hole again, I will say that I’m glad I did go through it because I came out of it knowing myself and my body better.

Here are some links to some of my favorite Calm stories, hope you enjoy them! :)

My Pandemic Sleep Journey

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