Feeling Rested: How to Improve Sleep

One of the first things to remember when learning how to improve sleep is the importance of getting on a schedule that fits your needs and promotes a healthy sleep schedule.

Of course, the first thing you want to consider is what you have to get done in a day. Once you start planning well, you'll find that you probably have (slightly) more time that you thought.

Once you've written you a general schedule that will work for most days, think about how much time you have left for sleeping.

Ideally, you want to have at least 6-8 hours of time to sleep a night. This amount will allow you to perform at your best throughout the day.

Also consider when you work best during the day. If you're a morning person, it might be best for you to go to bed earlier and wake up earlier. If you're a night person, the opposite might work best for you.

Not splitting your sleeping time into chunks will work best. You'll feel more inclinded to go to bed earlier and wake up when you have to if you haven't been napping throughout the day.

There are very concrete way to learn how to improve sleep. Take these tips to heart. By following them well, you'll be well on your way to sleeping more soundly.

Here are some tips that will help make your environment and your attitude more fit for sleeping:

1) Make your bed as comfortable as possible. If need be, go out and spend the little money and getting a good pillow.

2) Try making your room cold. Most people find that the being in a cold room and snuggling up in bed makes them sleep more soundly.

3) Minimize the light entering your room. Put up an extra curtain over your window and put a blanket under your door to keep light from entering. I will be honest, the darkness does make it harder to get up but that next test hanging over your head should be enough to get you up and out of your bed in no time!

4) Minimize the noise that can disturb you. If loud neighbors are a problem, try using a fan in your room to create some white noise to block out the other sounds.

5) Spend time before you go to bed doing a bit of relaxing. It doesn't mean that you have to completely zone out. This can be the time that you use to do the things that need to get done (like laundry, dishes, cleaning, sending emails, or spending some time talking with your closest freinds/family). Make it something that you can do without much stress and without much hard thought.

6) It might be helpful to start your day each day (since it probably will be earlier than you'd like) working on a list of things to do. This will ensure that by 10 pm that day, you will be less likely to be running around and panicking about having forgotten something.

Here's an example of a day's schedule. This is the one that I stick to most days.

I wake up everyday at 6 o'clock. No snoozing. I tell myself to just open my eyes and roll on outta bed. It's painful at first, but after a while it becomes normal.

I have my work out clothes set out the night before so that I can just pull them on. Then I grab my chem/physics/bio book and head out to the treadmill.

By 7:30-8:00 I'm back to shower, eat, and get dressed for the day. Then I hit the books before class.

From 9:00 to 12ish, I usually have class or things to do.

12-12:30-1 I have a nice big lunch to recharge.

Then work until 6ish. Make myself a nice dinner and take time to relax.

Then its back to the books for me until about 9-10 depending on the day.

By 10:30 I start wrapping things up. I get ready for the next day by preparing all the things I need.

By around 11 or shortly after then, I'm in bed.

It's exhausting to go full throtle the entire day without too many breaks but once you hit the hay by the time you've set out to sleep, it feels so amazing, you'll need no help falling asleep!