Good sleep and getting enough of it in college is hard. Many of us know staying up into the wee hours of the morning doing homework all too well. As a first-year student, figuring out my routine and pushing myself to study was difficult. The transition from high school to college was not easy, especially with my sleep schedule.
In my first semester, I would have a class one day at noon and a class the next day at 9:30 a.m., which varied my waking times. I would stay up well into the night and go to bed at 2:30 a.m. because I was cramming in the schoolwork that I never did during the day. These late nights greatly impacted my mood and how I functioned the next day. My mornings consisted of rushing to class and not eating the food I needed to fuel my body and keep myself energized. This, combined with my lack of sleep, caused me to need long naps during the day, which interfered with crucial homework time. Everything I did throughout my days affected my overall well-being. I was always stressed, behind on schoolwork and extremely tired. I knew I could not go through my second semester the same way, so I decided to make a change.
If my goals were doing homework throughout the day instead of saving my work for the last minute, sticking to a schedule and overall feeling more refreshed, happy and less stressed, I knew I first had to fix my sleep schedule. I began my new routine by sticking to a 10:45 p.m. bedtime. I used melatonin for the first few days of going to bed much earlier than my usual bedtime. My favorite things that I have implemented into my new and beloved sleep routine are my eye mask and earplugs. I found that I sleep best when it is pitch-black, and I cannot hear anything. Since I live with a roommate and we have very different bedtime routines, the eye mask and earplugs, accompanied by the melatonin, help me fall asleep in about five minutes. Since I went to bed at 10:45 p.m., I could wake up at 7 a.m., feeling refreshed from eight hours of sleep. Although this was impossible last semester, I now had the time to prepare for the day without feeling rushed, eat a good breakfast in the dining hall and sometimes even go to the library before class starts. It was not long before I started mentally feeling the benefits of my new sleep routine.
About two days after my first attempts with this new routine, I felt like a new person. I completed my homework during the day and was more productive than ever. I was no longer excruciatingly tired and could hang out with my friends at night stress-free. I was so much happier, too. Waking up to the sun made me smile, and my slow and quiet mornings cleared my mind. I began to appreciate the small things throughout my day that brought me joy and all the relationships in my life that helped me move forward and support me. When my parents told me how important sleep was, I did not take their word. But now, I really wish I had listened to them sooner.
Although it was not easy to drastically change my sleep routine and drop the habits I had been sticking to since high school, I have received more benefits than I could have imagined. Following my routine every day of the week is impossible, especially if I have more schoolwork than usual, a test or an extracurricular. All I can do is go back to my schedule the next day and not let a day off completely derail me. Perfect for me is impossible, but the continuous goal of improvement counts.