Sleeping in College – Make Sure You’re Getting Enough!

Want to succeed in college? Of course you do! It may sound a little silly, but to succeed in college, one of the best things you can do other than study and do all of your homework is to get enough sleep. You may have developed an image of pulling all-nighters to study from movies or television. The truth is, you need that sleep badly and you don’t want to fall asleep during your exams. To avoid pulling an all-nighter and get the sleep you need every night, to start with you need to schedule your study and homework time accordingly. Seriously, you have to schedule it into your planner. If you leave it up to “whenever you get to it,” you’re going to find that procrastination becomes what you do more. Plus, leaving it up to chance just means a greater chance of pulling an all-nighter. And that’s what you want to avoid. Once you have your study and homework time scheduled in, you need to make sure you’re actually sleeping. And that can be tough while in college.

When you’re living in a college dorm room, you’re in an entirely new environment. Being in this new environment can mean it is incredibly hard to sleep the first few days and probably occasionally throughout the rest of your college life. After all, with every semester, you could have new people living above, below, and next to you and their schedules and habits are going to be completely different than yours which means you need to get used to a new routine every time.

To start with, you want to make sure your bedding is comfortable to just your liking because let’s face it, your bed won’t be very comfortable at the beginning. Once you get your bed to your liking, you need to ensure you’re getting a good night’s sleep every night and that can mean investing in sleep aids. Bothered by the light coming through your window? Even if your window has blinds, light is going to come through. You get your best sleep when your room is completely dark and to do that make sure you have a curtain over that window. Bonus points if it’s a thick, dark curtain that blocks light. If your college doesn’t allow curtains, you’re not completely out of luck because you can get a sleep mask that covers your eyes. Need a distracting sound from the person above you talking loudly on the phone while you’re trying to sleep? This is where a sound machine comes in handy – play the most soothing sound to your liking to lull your mind into a calm, sleep pattern.

The most important thing to remember is that your roommate is going to have a different schedule than you. That means they may want to study while you sleep. If this is the case, don’t get mad at them. Simply make arrangements with them such as no overhead light (using a book light instead). Discussing your schedules and preferences politely ahead of time will allow you to live more peacefully with this person in the long term.