Tips to Optimise Sleep
As a teenager, one has a natural hormonal shift which causes you to feel sleepy later, and wake up later in the mornings. However, school may not allow you to sleep in, and the late night spent studying definitely takes away sleep time. How can we optimise our sleep and build better sleeping habits? Here are some tips:
Before bed
Avoid stimulating activities before bed, such as loud music, homework, games or physical activities.
Create a relaxing bedtime routine (e.g. have a hot milky drink, meditation, journaling etc) and do the same routine every night for at least four weeks to make your brain associate this routine with going to sleep.
Habits
Keep your bedroom dark at night as your brain’s sleep-wake cycle is largely set by light received through the eyes. In the morning, get lots of light to wake your brain.
Set a regular wake up time.
Avoid staying up late during weekends as late nights undo your hard work.
Separating the workspace and rest space
Avoid doing work in your bedroom, especially on your bed. This prevents your brain from creating an association with stimulating activities such as work, and your resting area.
Especially during remote learning, take frequent breaks and move from your workstation to your rest station during those periods of time
Use cues such as changing into comfortable clothes before bed, and changing out of them before working, to signal your work and rest times.
Getting sufficient and good quality sleep not only improves your memory and performance, but also helps to alleviate your mental health. Building good sleeping habits consistently may be difficult, but is worthwhile if kept up.
Resources:
https://www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au/health/healthyliving/teenagers-and-sleep
By: Shana Lam