I wish I could say that my poor sleeping habits were a product of being a student, but I’ve had weird sleeping patterns for as long as I can remember. I love being up at night, there is something about the night that fills me with inspiration, creativity and energy. It’s like I’m finally awake. At night I don’t have to answer to anyone and I’m basically free to do whatever. Whether it be watching Dr. Phil videos for hours or writing what, in my feverish state, feels like my next magnum opus. Having said this, my night owl ways make it impossible for me to get up in the morning. I spend my whole week in lethargy until Saturday and Sunday morning, when I sleep in past noon. It is perfectly healthy to sleep in, but by that I mean 9 or 10 a.m. Not 1 p.m. This past month my standard issues with sleep have been exacerbated by the stress I have over my job search and impending graduation. For almost the entire month of October I have gone to bed at 3 am, which would make waking up at 7 a.m. feel like absolute agony.
I know that a lot of students are probably facing the same issues as me, so I decided to do some research and see if any lifestyle changes could genuinely improve this issue for me. This past week I decided to start my quest for sleep by forcing myself to wake up at the same time everyday. I decided that 7:30 a.m. was a reasonable time and even if I didn’t emerge from my room until 9 a.m. I would use my time in a productive way.
One of the new additions to my early morning routine was working out. Typically, I feel sudden bursts of inspiration to get a lot accomplished at odd hours. It will be 10 p.m. and I suddenly feel the urge to go to the gym. Therefore, I have gotten into the habit of working out at night. When I get back from working out, I am not tired or worn out. I feel rejuvenated or I feel hungry so it makes it harder to sleep. This week, I switched to working out in the morning. I was taking baby steps so I did my morning workouts in my dorm rather than going to the gym but I could still see a huge difference in my temperment. Studies show that working out in the morning can improve your health, “Morning workouts rev up the metabolism and jumpstart your body’s internal furnace to burn stronger all day”. I noticed that these workouts increased my energy, so I wasn’t depending solely on coffee to wake me up. I would already feel energized before I left my dorm and I noticed that I felt happier. I also felt good about getting my workout out of the way instead of having it hanging over my head all day.
Speaking of coffee, I am a person addicted to caffeine. My coffee-crazed ways have definitely taken their toll on my sleep. I am definitely the type to finish my assignments at the last minute in a caffeine induced frenzy at odd hours of the evening. I was preparing to do the same Wednesday night when I got back from a class that ended at 7 p.m. and had an eight page midterm paper to start and complete by the next day. I decided that despite my desperate desire for coffee, I should stick to my weekly goal of trying to sleep better for this article. I opted for Kombucha. Though it’s still caffeinated, it’s definitely the lesser of two evils. I also used mints to stay focused and I ended up getting the paper done by midnight, and being able to sleep soundly after that. Midnight is the typical time I would start a paper so this was a major feat in and of itself.
In my research, I read that being exposed to bright sunlight has been proven to help those with insomnia. This past week I tried to increase the amount of time I spent outside despite my class schedule. Instead of eating at the dining hall for lunch I got grab-and-go and ate over by the garden on the way to Frank Dining Hall, or I would eat above Blue Wall instead of inside it. Additionally, I would try to find places with a lot of sunlight to study. The I.L.C. first floor around Peets and third floor “Comm Hub” are great study spaces with natural light. Since I am an English major, I have the luxury of being able to do my readings outside. If you can do this, I highly recommend it because it also helped me focus. Forcing myself to be outside, even in this cold weather, made me feel significantly better.
Sometimes when I am in class or working on assignments all day I can feel like I wasted the day, finding creative ways to get outside was a good way to combat that feeling. While I was getting my sunshine, I limited my screen time. As a person studying film and constantly writing papers, I feel like I spend a horrifying amount of time in front of a screen. To make matters worse, like any other person my age, I will lay in bed scrolling through social media before I sleep. I will even sleep next to my laptop, the tempting green glow of the battery light cast upon my closing eyes, telling me to read lists about forgotten celebrity couples or watch a compilation of “craziest moments” in “The Real Housewives of Atlanta”.
This week I kept my laptop far away from me on my desk. My friend Christi also showed me how to put my phone on “Reader Mode” or “Evening Mode” in order to minimize eye strain. Blue Light interferes with one’s ability to sleep. I also devised a new night routine in which I would do a couple “5-minute Tai Chi” videos which helped me focus on breathing, and I would meditate to Monomon’s Meditation music for 10 minutes while wearing a face mask. If I still had a bit of time before bed I would read instead of being on my laptop. This was a great way for me to incorporate a lot of healthy habits all at once and it became a part of my day that I really looked forward to. Finally, I am an overthinker and this is my greatest difficulty with sleep. At night I am riddled with a fray of thoughts, worries, even my imagination can interrupt my sleep. I feel like most people can relate to this, and trying to quiet the mind feels like it is something outside the realm of our capabilities.
I found two great ways to combat this, one is confiding in friends about your stress and not planning for tomorrow right before bed. My first point about confiding in others is rather self-evident but important. Even if your stress is entirely mundane and insignificant, like a spelling error in an important email, your friends will inevitably help you see the humor in the situation. I keep an agenda and I used to always plan my day right before bed. This was actually counterproductive because then my mind goes into “work mode” and I start thinking about all of the things I need to accomplish. If you keep a planner, I would suggest planning the day before, a few hours before you go to sleep.
It would be idealistic for me to say that I have 100% solved my issues with sleep, but by employing these methods I have improved my sleep in just a week. I am optimistic that if I apply these methods to my daily life, my sleep patterns will be improved.