Many students often face problems of sleeping disorders. Sometimes they neglect it: they hang out at parties, work, or start studying for exams late. Unfortunately, in most cases, a student is faced with frequent stress. There are often situations when the anxiety becomes too strong and the student’s sleep is disturbed.
All this is fraught with fatigue, bad mood, accompanied by a decrease in student performance, and loss of health. To prevent this from happening, you should not only optimize your sleeping schedule but also properly manage your time during the day. It is important to have enough rest during the day, and not overstress over the studies, to do that students get help at https://en.writingapaper.net/.
In any case, it does not matter what reasons led you to the fact that you can not fall asleep and wake up at the right time – a change in the time zone, stress, study, or insomnia. Only one thing is important: it is necessary to normalize sleep, as it is very important for young people. In this matter, it is worth trying to stick to the average sleeping time. So, how much sleep does a student need, and how to adjust the sleep regime during a stressful period of student life?
Adult sleep recommendations
Most adults need between 7 and 9 hours to feel refreshed. The average sleep time is 7 hours and 40 minutes.
Many people need either too little time to sleep or much higher than normal. Those who sleep fast may need 4-5 hours, and those who sleep long, need more than 10 hours of sleep. If this is their trait, then there is nothing to worry about. But more often this sleeping habit is associated with hidden or obvious problems that you need to try to eliminate. The calculation of the individual sleep rate and the analysis of the student’s condition will help to establish the regime.
What time should I go to bed?
There is no universal sleep schedule. This is no secret to anyone. But there is a time that is considered ideal for the human body. This is the period from 23:00 to 7:00. If the student is categorically not satisfied with this mode, then he may well choose his own.
You can find out the optimal sleep time yourself. For example, if a student usually wakes up an hour before the alarm clock, then he should go to bed an hour later so that he gets up at the right time and does not miss opportunities to do something useful. If during the day the student is in a state of drowsiness, then this is an occasion to think about going to bed earlier.
How to restore a good sleep routine under stress?
After determining your norm, you should stick to your schedule daily. This even applies to weekends or vacations. If you do not do this, then the body will have a hard time both falling asleep and waking up.
Several rules can be followed to restore sleep as soon as possible. Observing these points, you will help the body to properly perform its functions during sleep, which, of course, will have a beneficial effect on well-being and mood during the day:
- Go to sleep in a comfortable and cozy bed, using blankets and sheets that you like.
- You should not eat before going to bed. Eating at night slows down the production of melatonin, which is necessary for falling asleep. But if you really want to eat, you can have light snacks: vegetables, fruits, or a warm drink at bedtime.
- Drinks containing alcohol and caffeine (cocoa, coffee, tea) are prohibited before bedtime. They should be postponed until the morning. Chamomile tea, mint tea, or warm milk, drunk with honey before going to bed, will be much more useful. They will calm the nervous system and help you fall asleep faster and easier.
- An evening walk in the fresh air will help you fall asleep sooner.
- Save your problems and worries for later. Try not to think about school debts, the imminent arrival of the exams, or the difficult things that you will have to manage. You will have time for this during the day. In the evening, it is best to relax to restore your body during a night’s sleep. If possible, relax your muscles and think about something pleasant.
- Evening treatments. A warm shower or hot bath is an excellent “sedative” that will relax the body and help to cope with stress. A cold shower is best left for the morning.
- For a quick and restful sleep, you can read classical literature or turn on quiet slow music, nature sounds, lullabies, and much more.
- Do not forget to ventilate the room before going to bed. Make airing the room a daily habit. This will improve the work of the NS, well-being and relieve headaches, as well as help to cope with stress.
- Turn off the lights in the sleeping area, otherwise sleep is likely to be light, which will not allow your body to fully rest and recover. If you live in a dorm, then try to negotiate with your roommates, turn off the lights at the time you need.
- Sleep should be on your back, ideally, alternately – on the right or left side. Experts do not recommend abdominal sleep.
- Don’t stay in bed for too long in the morning. When you wake up, stretch, move your body and immediately get up. If you allow yourself to spend a long time in bed, you can fall asleep again and skip school. Thus, the routine will be broken again.
Can I sleep less without harming my health?
If a student feels that he is sorely lacking time to do academic work or prepare for exams, then he can try to practice polyphase sleep. Surely, in your social circle, some people sleep during the day, and sometimes even several times a day? These people may even unconsciously practice multiphase (polyphase) sleep. It means that a person divides the rest time into several periods during the day. With this method, in contrast to the generally accepted single-phase sleep, the number of hours of rest decreases, but the quality of sleep itself becomes even better.
The duration of this sleep includes two phases:
The first is a slow sleep. It begins immediately after the person falls asleep. Slow sleep lasts about an hour and a half.
The second phase is rapid sleep. Its duration is 10-20 minutes. Unlike other phases, this period is characterized by increased brain activity. It is during this phase that we dream.
These two phases usually alternate. To reduce the time for rest, it is worth trying to reduce the phase of slow sleep, since at this time the body recovers worse. It is worth following one of the proposed strategies:
4 stages of sleep. Each session is a half-hour sleep of 30 minutes with a break in every 6 hours = 2 hours of6 sleep stages. Each of these sessions lasts for 20 m. Every 4 hours = 2 hours.
One session at night (1.5-3 hours) and three sessions in the afternoon for 20 m. = 2.5–4 hours.
One session at night (5 hours) and one session during the day (1.5 hours) = 6.5 hours.
One session at night (2 hours) and one session in the afternoon (20 m.) = 2 hours 20 m.
After trying multiphase sleep, carefully monitor the reaction of your body. It is possible that this method will not suit you and then you will have to sleep during the night only. In any case, resort to such experiments only in extreme situations, because the student’s body is still developing and needs quality rest.
If nothing else helps…
When a person is stressed, he can’t think of anything but the reasons for his anxiety. Therefore, even realizing their problem and feeling sleep deprivation, not every student can pull himself together in a stressful period and adjust to the regime. In this case, you can use specific apps that will help you prepare for bed. The most popular of them are:
- Sleep Cycle
- Sleepzy
- Sleep Time
- Twilight
The principle of the applications is quite simple. They track the phases of your sleep and wake you up in the lightest stage. Many of them also support sleep statistics by tracking changes, recording nighttime sounds, sending reminders about going to bed, and even eliminating the blue glow on the screen that negatively affects circadian rhythms.
In any case, to adjust your sleep, you need discipline. If you follow a certain sleep schedule for a long time, then you will succeed. However, if, despite all your efforts, insomnia and other sleep problems do not go away, then you should consult a doctor.