If anyone knows anything about me, they know my sleep schedule is a complete wreck. Not only do I stay up until the sun starts to shine, but I’ll oversleep on some days, sleep a few hours the next, and have no consistency or quality sleep. I thought that was just how my brain was wired and that I had no agency over the situation. I was fixed to be the night owl on watch, waking up only after the sun was high up in the sky, and there was nothing that I could do about it.
School, for the most part, did not have much of an impact on my sleep schedule. In high school, I had a fixed time I had to be at school, but there was no reason for me to go to bed at a reasonable time because I wouldn’t be tired during the day – and if I was, it was nothing that coffee or an energy drink wouldn’t fix. In winter and summer break months, waking up early in the morning was shot out the window completely. Once I got to college, staying up late was even easier – since I was able to pick my own class schedule, I was able to pick afternoon classes and keep my body’s clock the way it’s always been.
However, everything came crashing down during my junior year. For the first time in my college life, I needed to wake up at 8 a.m. every morning, juggle 18 credits, two jobs, and extracurricular activities all at once. Very quickly, my horrid sleep schedule was catching up to me. I started to fall asleep in my earliest class nearly every day, and even fell asleep while studying later in the day. I started missing alarms and classes all while having little to no energy throughout the day. I knew that I couldn’t continue this routine for the rest of the semester, so I desperately needed to change my sleep.
First, I simply started to go to bed earlier – which for me, is easier said than done. With the aid of constantly being tired, I would start to unwind earlier in the night. Skin masks, reading, and calming nighttime rituals made it easier for me to transition into a drowsy state, allowing me to fall asleep faster at night. On top of this, I made it a priority to not keep my homework and other assignments off until later in the day, which is when I would typically get work done. I found that once I didn’t have to worry about work in the later hours of the day, transitioning to bedtime was so much easier.
After a week or two, I already felt a complete change in my energy levels. It was becoming easier for me to wake up and get through the day without the necessity of caffeine. I also started to wake up easier so that I didn’t have to rush. Normally, I would wake up, immediately get ready for classes, then go out into the day. However, I noticed that not allowing myself to truly wake up was a big setback in my schedule. Instead, I would wake up a bit earlier to allow myself to stretch, make breakfast, and get ready at a comfortable pace. I found that this step was crucial for me to feel like I was fully awake.
After a few weeks had passed, I started to notice that it became easier for me to go to bed at a reasonable time more consistently. It took a while before the schedule became concrete, but it was a journey of becoming consistent and actually staying on top of my schedule, even when I didn’t want to. I used to believe that even if I stay up late at night, I’ll be fine in the morning, and nine times out of 10, I am severely mistaken. Once I was able to have more discipline with myself and adhere to my schedule, it greatly benefited me.
Once I started having a more concrete, healthy sleep schedule, the change in my life was almost instant. I didn’t need caffeine as much as I previously did – and eventually not at all. Because I wasn’t focused on how tired I was, I was able to be more present in my classes, had less brain fog, and had more energy for more competent studying and time with friends. I found that all of these things together made it so that my days were filled with healthy activity that wouldn’t drain my energy. In fact, they were just enough for me to get tired naturally so I could fall asleep again at my scheduled time.
Overall, the improvement and changes I’ve made to my sleep schedule has immensely improved my life. I always believed that I was naturally a night owl (which I still believe) and that it was an unchangeable lifestyle. However, I’ve come to realize that I do have agency in my own sleep schedule. With that agency, I’m able to control how many hours I sleep, when and where I sleep, and how I spend the time that I am awake. This revelation came to me later than I wanted in my life, but it came when I needed it most. Now I can truly understand why a good sleep schedule is so vital, and what that looks like for me.