How To Maintain A Proper Sleep Schedule

Having a proper sleep schedule is one of the most important factors for a successful life and college can be one of the most difficult times to maintain a good sleep schedule. Many people our age have the tendency to stay up late on weekends but try to get back on a regular schedule during the week and this can work for some but for others it can cause issues. In other more extreme cases people can stay up till 5-6 in the morning and sleep until 1-2 pm and a sleep schedule as off as this can be difficult to recover from but I can tell you how.

The best way to get good sleep is to stay in a good routine and while its ok to break this routine every now and again, the longer the period of time your body stays in this rhythm the easier it will be to sleep and the more rested and alert you will be during the day. My best advice to you would be to determine how long you need to sleep and then plan to go to be that many hours before you need to wake up -1 so that gives you extra time in the morning to avoid being late.

Now as many of you know there are times when our body gets out of wack and we find ourselves going to sleep at times that we don’t want and waking up in the middle of the day and this can lead to a plethora of issues. There is no magical solution or a single day trick to get back into the sleep schedule you want. If you try to stay up an entire 24 hours what actually happens is that you end up experiencing two days with only one night’s sleep and you’re still tired even after you wake up. The best way to reset your sleep schedule is to go to sleep 30 minutes to an hour earlier each night until you are back to where you want to be this is the easiest and most efficient way to reach your optimum hours of sleep.

For those who struggle to fall asleep I have some advice. Make sure to exercise at least 30 minutes that day, drink plenty of water but not right before bed, try to avoid any synthetic light 30 minutes before bed (this includes phones and TV), some stretches right before bed have been shown to relax the muscles and allow individuals to fall asleep easier and if you are still having trouble most doctors recommend taking melatonin tables which will help your brain produce the chemicals it needs to fall asleep.