By Lee Scriggins, Community Health, Wardenburg Health Services
Starting a new routine in a new place? Remember to factor in sleep.听Sleep is essential for learning; when people are not sleeping well before or after studying, their brains do not organize or retain information as well.听
Common issues that can get in the way of a good night sleep include:听
- Street lights, and the bright, close blue light from electronics. Light听can keep your brain from recognizing that it is time for sleep. Sleep tip听-听Sleep in a dark room. Cover your windows at night or wear an eye mask, and stop looking at electronics one听hour before bed.
- Noise.听Everyone knows how painful it can be when sound disrupts sleep.听Sleep tip - Create a quiet environment.听Make agreements with roomates and neigbors about noise, or try out earplugs, music, a fan or a white noise machine.听
- Too much caffeine. Sleep tip听-听Stop drinking caffeine 8 hours before sleeping.听Check out what鈥檚 in that soda, energy drink听or even decaf coffee.听Stimulants, such as caffeine, can keep people up and speedy, and disrupt our body clocks so it鈥檚 hard to get back on track.
Other sleep-related facts:
- Alcohol and marijuana听distort essential aspects of the sleep cycle, so sleep is not as complete or effective.
- When people think they need substances to sleep, and sleep worse or get anxious when they don鈥檛, that can be a sign of dependancy. Our bodies are beautifully built for sleep.
- Most people need 8 hours a day.听Really!
- A short nap midday (20 minutes) can help.
Trouble with sleep? These tips can help. But if they aren鈥檛 working, there is help available on campus:
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- Coaching to reorganize sleep could help, or there might be an additional medical issue to check on. .
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