--Original published at Kaity Takes on Psychology

Like many college students, my sleep schedule is completely chaotic. Between accidental naps lasting over five hours, staying up until four in the morning, and sleeping in until three in the afternoon – it is evident my circadian rhythms are totally off. My social life, hobbies, and schoolwork tend to come first, and my need for sleep is usually substituted with caffeine, sugar, and my ADHD. My biggest concern with losing sleep is how late I end up sleeping in. In fact, I do not even hear my alarm go off in the mornings most of the time.

I am beyond fortunate to have a schedule that only includes a 9:30 once a week. Generally I get the chance to sleep in until 10 AM, so I tend to stay up later to compensate for the time I lost in the morning to sleep. However, I understand this method is not favorable for me, as my body expects me to sleep in all the time and stay up late every night. My goal is to implement some type of activity to do every morning so I can rise sooner and go to bed earlier.

While some folks may consider my sleeping habits to be atrocious, I just accept that my mind will only be tired when it wants to be. Recently I have been taking melatonin pills prior to going to bed in hopes I will fall asleep. Likewise, I go to the gym daily in an attempt to make myself more tired. I hope I can maintain this habit, and further improve it by overcoming my addiction to nicotine, which causes my heart rate to increase. Through making healthier choices, such as eating better, exercising regularly, and finding my way to bed before 2 AM, I believe I can improve my sleep habits.

--Original published at Voltage Blog

Sleep is one of the most important actions that every human needs. My current sleep behavior is rather poor. I currently have a very fluctuating sleep schedule where I get over nine hours one night and then the next night I will get four to six hours of sleep. I also like to watch some episodes on Netflix or some videos on Youtube before I fall asleep. I think this is rather unhealthy because it is throwing off my internal body clock and disrupting my sleep cycles every night. Fixing both of these problems would be rather simple and could drastically improve my overall health.

First, I could adjust my sleep schedule. I can do this by changing the time at which I go to sleep to around the same time every night instead of vastly different times. This will help put my body into a reasonable sleep schedule and hopefully regain my internal body clock instead of relying on an alarm to wake me up and possibly disrupting my sleep cycle. Secondly, using a screen before sleeping is only tricking my brain into staying awake, instead of letting it know that it is time to sleep. Instead, I should just have my eyes closed in a dark room with no screens on in my view. This will help tell my brain that it is time to sleep. Lastly, avoiding caffeine after dinner would also help. By consuming sugary or caffeinated products, I am only encouraging my body to stay awake longer instead of falling asleep. Avoiding these substances would be in my best interest to having healthier sleep habits.

--Original published at Ben's PSY105 Blog

Students often struggle to find time to do everything they need to do in a day, and they usually sacrifice sleep in order to get everything else done. For me, I found that happening frequently in the fall semester. Thankfully, I currently have a schedule that allows me to get a fair amount of sleep much more regularly than I had been. I currently take amitriptyline for my chronic headaches, and one of the side effects is drowsiness. As the medication is often commonly used for insomnia, I often find myself sleeping more when I take it than when I don’t take it. Having classes at 8:00 every morning last semester, I could rarely take my medication at night as it would cause me to sleep through class. The consequences of this, however, were even worse for me. I woke up almost daily with headaches that would keep me from functioning normally. My grades suffered as a consequence of my schedule not allowing me to get the required amount of sleep. My choices became either stay up to get the work done and suffer from the headaches, or take my meds to get sleep and end up missing class.

This semester, thankfully, I have a much more favorable schedule for my health. My earliest class starts at 12:30, so I get to sleep in every day. I often find that I end up sleeping too much now. On any given night, the chances are high that I go to bed before 11:00, and I rarely get up before 10:00 the next morning. I average about ten and a half hours of sleep every night. I should probably start sleeping less and to do that I should work on getting up earlier in the morning. Since I just recently increased the dosage of my medication, however, I probably will end up sleeping even more than I do now, at least for a couple weeks until my body adjusts.

My biggest issue with getting to sleep is that I can not simply close my eyes and fall asleep ever. I need something going on, whether it be music, a podcast, or sounds from a movie or tv show. I also spend way too much time on my phone when I lay in bed. I get a lot of sleep now, but if I want to get better sleep instead of just more, I need to work on those things.

--Original published at Alex's Thoughts

My sleeping habits are relatively healthy, and I make sure that I get at least six hours of sleep per night. I simply cannot function properly if I am sleep deprived, I fall asleep at odd intervals and can’t focus if I get less than six hours of sleep. I also generally enjoy sleeping, as I tend to have vivid dreams. As such, I like to strive for at least eight hours of sleep so that I can have a decent amount of dreams while not gaining an excessive amount of sleep. I tend to have headaches if I get too much sleep, and I often cannot think clearly for an extended period of time if I go over nine hours of sleep. A realistic amount of sleep to be expected from the standard college student should be at least six hours, as I understand that homework and studying often take up a lot of time that would otherwise be occupied by sleeping. Any less, and the student risks losing the ability to learn in class because they will be too fatigued. More than six is obviously preferable, but six at the least is the desirable goal.

To improve one’s sleeping habits, a few easy steps can be followed. The first would be to limit screen time before you go to bed. Focus on reading or paperwork before you go so that you brain has time to process information while not being bombarded by the light produced from electronics. The second would be to clear one’s mind while trying to fall asleep. If you are not thinking, your thoughts are not preventing you from falling asleep. The third would be to have a large amount of blankets in a cool environment. I personally sleep the best when the temperature is cool, but I am well insulated from the ambient air because of my bedding.

Honestly, the biggest motivator for me to sleep is the idea that I’ll be able to dream. I generally enjoy most dreams that I have, and the thought that I’ll be able to create an entire world to explore in the space of a few minutes is astonishing. If nothing else, sleep offers much in the way of entertainment.

--Original published at Jill Distler's Psychology Blog

I don’t think that I can consider myself an average college student, most of my friends who live on campus don’t typically sleep that much at night, but periodically are able to take a nap throughout their day. As a commuting student, I feel that my sleep schedule is fairly comparable to the average working adult. I wake up at about nine each morning, and once I am awake, I am awake for my entire day. If I have classes, I tend to choose ones that end and begin near each other so that I do not spend time at the school when I don’t have too. I have many responsibilities living on my farm and working at my job part time which makes it difficult for me to find time to stop and take a nap in the middle of my day. I would like to think I am lucky enough to average approximately eight to ten hours of sleep each night, sometimes even more. There are nights where I get less due to me spending time with my friends on campus or getting a later start on my daily barn and horse chores due to spending time with my boyfriend or members of our church. I think a realistic sleep goal would be about six to eight hours a night for a college student but depending on the course load that the student is taking those classes may require more or less time studying, taking away from the amount of time that they are able to spend asleep.

--Original published at Ariana's Blog

Sleep is a very important part of my life. I believe that my sleep habits are healthy thus far in my college experience. I go to sleep the same time every night around 11, give or take one hour. I sleep for 8-10 hours a night depending on when my first class of the day is. I do not take any naps because I sleep so well at night; I don’t need them. Since I do not have any 8 am classes, I sleep in as much as I can. I try not to lose sleep over studying, so I get my work done early. I think that it depends on the individual for how much sleep they need. 

A goal for sleep is at least 7 hours for a college student. Some people can function off of less sleep then other people, but a reasonable goal is 7 hours. This gives not only the brain but the body a chance to regroup and get ready for the next day. It so important that the body can rejuvenate to give us energy.

I would like to improve my sleep habits by trying to wake up at the same time every morning to give my body some routine. I would also like to not use my phone before I go to bed because that causes me to go to bed later then I would like. I can achieve this by shutting my phone off, so I’m not tempted to pick it up.

--Original published at Maddy Vingom's PSY105 Blog

Many college students are sleep deprived, but I do not consider myself to be a part of this group. I believe that my sleep habits are much better than many of my peers. During the week I typically go to sleep around midnight and wake up around 9:00 in the morning, so on average I get about nine hours of sleep each night. There is one day each week where I need to be awake by 7:00 in the morning. I go to bed around the same time and go to class with only seven hours of sleep, on these days I tend to be a little more tired than usual. I try to finish my homework by 10:30 at night so I am able to have time to relax before I go to bed. On the weekends I tend to stay up later and sleep in later, still averaging nine hours each night.

I know I get enough sleep each night, because I wake up in a good mood and I have enough energy to get through the day. Although, I do think there are some areas at which I can improve. I would make my schedule more consistent by going to bed earlier and waking up earlier, rather than continue to stay up late and sleep in. I would also use my phone less before going to bed. I have noticed that the light from my phone is causing me to stay up later and it takes me longer to fall asleep.

--Original published at Jessica K's College Blog

For a freshman college student like myself, there are many twists and turns when it comes to how much sleep people should regularly have. While I have the chance to work on assignments and projects, I at times have time to sleep at 9-10 p.m. to 7 in the morning, allowing myself to prepare with the basic necessities.

However, the basic knowledge of acquiring the standard 8 hours of sleep can become either reasonable or problematic in relation to how someone’s daily assessments are. If there time is properly managed, there is a chance that that person will be well-rested in the regular 8 hours or more. But for harder-working individuals, in regards to either jobs, careers, or normally scheduled events, times can become hectic and stressful; giving the person inadequate time to relax and slow down.

While my own schedule has been tightly-knit or carefree, there are some instances when I could not get tired at the regular time, feeling far too busy with whatever is on my mind at the moment. But for any working individual, sleep is meant to be a natural stress reliever, to let their body wind down and assess itself in a orderly manner.

If sleep is still a relatively askew concept, there is no denying the sense of relief that anyone feels once they get a proper night’s rest, no matter how many hours they believe is acceptable.

--Original published at AlexisPattersonBlog

I would say my sleep habits vary. Being a college athlete has taken a toll on my sleeping patterns. With traveling away to games and not getting back until late at night, and having to find the time to do small things you need to get done and get adequate sleep for your classes the next day makes things hard. I used to be real enforcer of the 8 hour rule. I was convinced that if I got at least 8 hours or close to that, then I would get a good amount of sleep to function the next day. I know we have been told otherwise, but I do believe that 8 hours is a decent amount of time to have at the least.

Everyone is different in class schedules at school, so the time that people need to be up in the morning will vary. People also have different personal lives. Some people like to get up and get dressed nice in the morning and have a sit down breakfast before their 8 am class. I am the person who will roll out of bed at 12 for my 12:30 class.

I find that I can improve my sleep habits with minimizing the amount of time during the day that I am laying around doing nothing and I can start to do more that way I am not cramming it in at night. I also like to watch tv at night and do my homework after, and another option would be to do the work and then watch tv before bed.

--Original published at WilliamsCollegeBlog

Since I’m currently in my sophomore year of college, I have had to adapt to multiple sleep schedules. Each semester I usually must change when I wake up, but I usually try to go to bed around the same general time no matter the situation. I try to be relaxing in my bed around 11 and asleep by midnight. This semester the earliest I wake up is 7:30 and the other days it is a little later or I do not set an alarm and just wake up when my body is ready to. My general rule is to try and get seven hours of sleep and nine hours is the maximum amount I will normally get. Throughout these first couple semesters, I have had sleep schedules which worked right away and others where I needed to adjust when I go to bed in order to get optimum sleep. From this, I can tell I have changed my habits for the better and can notice differences compared to last semester in how I function in other classes.

I would think a healthy amount of sleep for any college student would be around seven hours of sleep. If a random student goes to bed by midnight and have an 8:00 am morning class, waking up at 7:00 and getting seven hours of sleep seems reasonable. Overall, I believe my sleep schedule is generally good. I should reduce the amount of time I am on my phone before trying to fall asleep. I have had nights where I am restless and can remember being on my phone later than I intended to. This will allow for my body to be in a better state when trying to sleep earlier.