College students are known for their lack of sleep, and while Instagram and Netflix-binging are among the many stimulants that take that precious shut-eye away from all of us, technology alone isn’t the only culprit.
With varying schedules, a demanding workload and a busy social life, not many of us have enough hours in the day. As a student, how do you fit all of these responsibilities into your schedule while also getting enough sleep at night?
If you need methods to help turn off your brain at night, Health Services has a board up on the first floor of B-building with some tips.
Unfortunately, sleeping in every other weekend isn’t going to solve the amount of sleep-debt you’ve tallied up throughout the week. As much as we want to believe that we can get the project done the night before, the cost of staying up all night to get it done is doing more harm than you think. According to the Health Services’ board, “The freshman 15 is often caused by the body requiring extra calories to function due to lack of sleep.”
For mental health week at Algonquin, Health Services’ Promotion team was handing out sleep kits for students that included: a booklet with more tips, a sleep mask, earbuds, and condoms.
Sleep is such an important aspect of your life not just for your body, but for your mind as well.
“Sleep is really important just to be a healthy person and have enough energy to do things,” said Alyssa Zarb, 18, an Algonquin social service student. “Some days when I don’t sleep enough I literally just can not get out of bed.”
This unfortunately isn’t uncommon in students, and if you suffer from a bad sleep every night, it is your reality every morning.
Eating a well-balanced diet, avoiding frequent naps after 3 p.m., and keeping the bed for sleep and intimacy only are among the many pieces of advice given by the Health Services’ board.
Keeping track of your daily life with an agenda, or phone reminders is another great way to plan out your day. According to the Health Services’ board, a lack of sleep has direct correlation with the amount of stress a student can handle on a daily basis.
Sleep is one of the main topics college students are constantly talking about, but not many actually make time for it. Using some of the simple tips can be simple, yet can often require a conscious effort. By all means, we are all different people and require different techniques, however, these can kick-start the way to a solution.