According to research, college students get around an average of 7 hours of sleep per night. Although it is suggested that students receive 7 to 9 hours of sleep, I think for many people, falling asleep can be hard.
In recent year, I’ve seen an uprising of nighttime routines on social media platform, TikTok, where influencers will record their step-by-step routine before bed. Oftentimes, they show off certain products that they claim help them fall asleep. But are any of them actually good?
Before figuring out what tools can help you sleep, it’s important to understand what healthy sleep is. According to both the Sleep Foundation and NIH (National Institutes of Health), healthy sleep consists of a few important things. When someone is having healthy sleep, they fall asleep easily, don’t wake up too early or even randomly during the night, and wake up not feeling exhausted. There are two different types of sleep that people should be aware of: deep sleep and REM sleep.
Deep sleep is a stage that is needed for the brain to function, along with keeping our memory sharp. Most adults only spend around 20% of their sleep in this type, which can amount to one to two hours. This is also known as the third stage of non-rapid eye movement sleep. REM sleep, also known as rapid eye movement, is most associated with dreaming while asleep. Similar to deep sleep, adults on average need about two hours of REM each night, which can help with emotional health.
Last Christmas, I was gifted a seven-pound weighted blanket from my mother, and even though I didn’t use it often, it relaxed me while I slept. Weighted blankets have been proven to help reduce stress and promote relaxation, especially with people who have conditions like insomnia.
Oftentimes, when people struggle with sleep, they can be recommended a tool called a noise machine that will play different things to help them relax. A well-known one is “white noise,” which can help some people be put in a relaxed state and mask background noise.
As someone who’s on social media a lot, something that I saw in a lot of videos or posts was mouth tape. If you’re not sure what mouth tape it is, essentially, it’s placing a medium-sized piece of tape covering your entire mouth while you sleep. People who post about it claim it helps reduce bad breath, mouth breathing, and allows better sleep. Though there are no medical claims that back up these claims. Another claim I’ve seen is that it can get rid of or stop a person from snoring in their sleep. Many people online have claimed that it’s worked for them, but once again, I haven’t seen any doctors back it up.
If you have products like a smart watch and you wear it to sleep, it can track different things like heart rate and your quality of sleep, which is beneficial to helping improve your sleep. But if you use sleep tracking apps that rely on things like noise, there’s no guarantee it’s tracking anything important.
If your goal by the end of the year is to get better sleep and wake up refreshed, here are some things you can do. Creating and sticking to a sleep schedule is what I started off with; being consistent allows your body to have a better sleep cycle. Making a comfortable environment enorucaged me to realx in my bed; no one’s going to be able to sleep properly if they have itchy blankets, loud music playing, or wearing uncomfortable clothes. Making my bedroom a comfortable and cool space allowed me to relax. And lastly, getting important things done during the day took stress of my back. It’s very hard to go to sleep stressed about something you didn’t do earlier, so, if possible, do what you can during the day, so you won’t stress and stay up at night.
While sleep tools can be helpful when it comes to struggling to fall asleep, it’s important to know they aren’t the complete fix. Healthy sleep can lead to a better lifestyle and overall improvement in your day. Do what you can and rest well.