Sleep

Feeling tired throughout the day? Having difficulty falling or staying asleep? Having trouble balancing work with getting adequate rest? Sleeping too much? You are not alone! 

Every year, many students at Emory and across the country report sleep challenges.  

Sleep plays a crucial role in your daily life and academic performance. It helps you stay alert during class, enhances memory consolidation of what you're learning, and influences processing speed, judgment, and decision-making. Additionally, sleep boosts your energy, improves your mood, and supports your immune system, keeping you healthy and feeling your best. 

Problems with sleep can feel very overwhelming and stressful. They can also be an indicator of some mental health concerns (e.g. depression, anxiety, insomnia) or physical health concerns (e.g. diabetes, cardiovascular disease, respiratory problems). 

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends 7-9 hours of sleep each night for optimal health and functioning. Below are several resources to help improve your sleep.   

Understanding Sleep

We all have heard that sleep is extremely important, but do you know why? Restorative sleep improves our physical health, mental health, memory, and performance. It can be easy to compromise on sleep due to various tasks and responsibilities; however, sleep deprivation can: 

  • Negatively impact our immune system 
  • Increase our risk for depression, anxiety or stress 
  • Reduce our focus and concentration in class 
  • Limit our performance on tests or with sports 
      

In fact, quality sleep can help us work more efficiently to conquer our daily activities! 

Helpful Strategies

If you are struggling to fall asleep at night, try focusing on having a regular time each day that you get up. Yes, that means getting up at the same time on the weekends and the weekdays. Having a regular awake time will help you set a regular bedtime. If you find yourself pressing snooze too often, try moving your alarm clock away from your bed, so that you need to physically get up to shut it off. 

If you find yourself hungry before bed, try having a light snack. Having a large meal before bed can signal to our body that it is time to be awake. In addition, limit alcohol use before bed. While alcohol may make you feel drowsy, it actually can cause you to get poor quality sleep.Alcohol can reduce REM sleep and lead to more sleep disruptions.

Napping too close to bedtime and/or for more than 20 minutes can lead to difficulty falling asleep at night. Remember to set an alarm to get up from your nap!   

Note: We understand that not everyone has control over their environment or schedule. Consider small steps that are possible in your context, and reach out to a wellbeing coach for support navigating structural challenges.

 

Regular exercise can help us improve our sleep. However, if you generally struggle with falling asleep, try not to exercise too close to bedtime.

Having relaxing rituals such as reading a good book, listening to music, taking a shower or bath, or journaling can help us feel calmer and signal to our brain that it is time to rest. Shut off screens about an hour before bed. The light from our screens can trick our brains into thinking that it is daytime and disrupt the secretion of melatonin – the hormone that causes us to feel sleepy.

Sleep is a biological behavior, but it is also a learned behavior when it comes to falling asleep easily. Make sure to use your bed for sleep and sex only. That way, you train your brain to associate your bed with sleep and not with studying or watching TV.

Create an environment that promotes sleep. Sleep science says that your sleep environment should be like a cave: dark, chilly, and quiet.

If you find yourself worrying in bed, get up and worry somewhere else. Return to bed when you feel drowsy again. This can help prevent our brain from associating our bed with a place to worry.

In addition, don’t check the clock to see how much time you have left to sleep – there is never a good time to be awake late at night! When we fear that we won’t get enough sleep, it is harder to fall asleep.

Other Activities to Improve Sleep

Sleep Diary 

Completing a sleep diary can be very helpful in recording your sleep patterns each night and noting potential factors affecting sleep. These logs can help to see if there are: inconsistencies with your bedtime or wake times, potential issues in your sleep environment that are affecting quality of sleep (e.g. temperature, lighting, noise levels, comfort of your bed), and how other activities before bed are negatively affecting your rest.  

Mindfulness and Relaxation Activities 

Life can be overwhelming at times which can have an impact on sleep. Thankfully, there are several mindfulness and relaxation activities that can help reduce stress, anxiety, and improve sleep. 

  • Deep breathing is our body’s natural reset button which can help promote relaxation before bed. Try doing the 4-3-4 technique by inhaling for four seconds, holding for three seconds, and then exhaling for four seconds. 
  • Try guided imagery activities which are narrated audio clips that walk you through peaceful environments such as: forests, beaches, or spaces that have special meaning to you. 
  • Listen to the sounds of nature that are occurring around you, which offer soothing sounds to promote rest and relaxation.