I, unlike many college students, DO get the recommended 6-8 hours of sleep. In fact, I can usually get closer to 9-10 hours. Unfortunately, I am still very tired throughout the day despite getting a seemingly good rest.
This tiring feeling, alongside regular busyness and stress, is actually because of the structure of my nose.
Not only do I have a deviated septum, essentially uneven nostrils/chambers for air, but I also have turbinate hypertrophy, meaning, the tissue in my nose is basically chronically swollen. The two together leads to a ton of snoring and an almost daily scratchy throat.
Now, snoring is not only annoying for all those around me, it also decreases the impact of the sleep itself and the restorative qualities it has.
Because the odds are somewhat stacked against me, I follow a few different practices to help me sleep more or at least enjoy my sleep more than I normally would. Here are a few ideas you can adopt that aren’t just, “put your phone away before bed” :
Weighted Products
This is my favorite, and most impactful, sleep tactic. If you love the feeling of being tucked or swaddled, this tip is for you. 2024 is the era of weighted blankets. At Target you can easily find weighted blankets under $100 that come in a variety of different bed sizes. You can accessorize them like sheets and purchase a cute cover. This automatically forces your body to relax because it is being pressed upon like a warm hug. On top of this, I also use a weighted eye mask. It forces me to close my eyes further and really blocks out any extraneous light.
Nightly Skincare
This may not actually affect the quality of your sleep, but having at least a semblance of a nighttime routine starts to slow your body down and train your mind to become tired (kind of like Pavlov’s dog and the bell). If nothing else, a nightly skincare routine makes you feel “clean girl” before your rest. Author’s note: this one is a bit hypocritical. I’m trying, okay!
Noise Machines
While I titled this section ‘noise machine’ Spotify is my actually streamer of choice. On Spotify, I look up ‘12 hours of Brown Noise’. This is much cheaper than an actual sound machine since I already pay for my Spotify subscription. Additionally, Spotify has just about every color “sound” possible; white noise, brown noise, even pink noise. Play around with these options and see what works best to ease your mind.
Of course, there are the usual tips, count sheep, turn your phone off or read a book, but I hope these are ones you may not have heard as often! Happy resting this weekend.