Q: “How can I lessen sleep issues when I’m stressed? Last week, I had a really big exam in one of my classes, and I didn’t sleep at all the night before. It caused me to sleep through one of my morning classes the day following. Do you have any advice on how I can help fix this in the future?”
A: I understand that occasionally, with the crushing stress of classes, work, and other things going on in our daily lives, it can seem easy to study the night before like that’s what we’re intended to do. If anything, it’s been shown that the opposite is true.
Having a good night’s rest before an exam is a pivotal part of your success in your courses. I’ve heard 8-10 hours of sleep is crucial for the function of individuals of our age bracket, and without sleep can cause us to be not ‘all there,’ especially when it counts the most on assessments and such.
I usually try to do my homework and study at least the weekend before, if not a few days leading up to the exam. Obviously, the larger the credit hour, the harder this can be, so definitely be cautious about the time you can spend on these things.
I also enjoy trying to avoid screen time at least an hour before bed by reading, journaling, or if I know I’ll struggle to fall asleep, I’ll take some melatonin, but try to take this earlier than later so you can also work on your sleep rhythm.
These sorts of things can cause difficulty in falling asleep if taken too late, or it can reset your rhythm all together if even the smallest dose makes you crash as hard as I do. I also try to stop drinking caffeine at least eight hours before I go to sleep, if possible, to offset the sleeplessness as much as possible.
If you’re anxious about your exam the next morning, try and meditate, do some yoga, call a friend, and most of all: breathe.
Though these things may seem extremely serious now, I promise that with what you go through in your life, one test will not be something to stress out about. These things will work themselves out in due time, make sure to use the resources available to you to ensure your success, and most of all: make sure you remember you are human, too. With things like grades and jobs, we might forget to take care of ourselves as well. Take this as a reminder and know that things will work out how they’re supposed to.
