--Original published at Zachs College Blog
Many college students have the battle or struggle of getting a good nights sleep every night due to having immense amounts of work, endless hours of studying for exams, and trying to fit in hanging with friends, etc on a daily basis. My sleep habits are changing each and every day. One night, I will go to sleep at a reasonable time getting 7-8 hours of sleep. Other nights I struggle to go to sleep and will only get about 5-6 hours of sleep which is not good. This all depends on my schedule for the day, depending on if I have lacrosse practice/lifting, large amounts of work etc. Many factors play into the deciding factor on how late or early I will be going to sleep. I believe that my sleep schedule is not as healthy as it possibly could be, and the way to change that is by getting my work done earlier in the day and working ahead so I don’t have to worry about doing work during the late night. Also, it is said to be healthy to get 8 hours of sleep per night, I need to adjust my schedule to make sure I get 8 hours or more of sleep per night. The average college student should be achieving 8 hours of sleep per night, as this has been scientifically proven to be the required amount of sleep considered “healthy”. Some ways I am going to improve my sleep habits is by limiting the amount of naps I take, and being careful of when I take them because that is most likely what is keeping me up so late as well. Also, I will try to start getting into a certain rhythm with my sleep meaning that I will try to go to sleep and wake up at the same time each day so my body adjusts to it. Overall, I think it will be fairly easy to improve my sleep schedule and change my bad habits into good ones.