Introduction:
As a student, it’s easy to feel like
you need to stay up all night studying and cramming in as many hours of
studying as possible each week. However, this can be done too much and lead to
the dreaded “sleep deprivation hangover” (where you are constantly
tired the day after you study). Here are some tips on how to increase your
hours of sleep as a law student.
It’s no secret that law students
spend an insane amount of time studying. It can be downright unhealthy not to
rest at some point during the semester. The good news is that there are several
ways you can increase your sleep hours as a law student.
The Methods to Increase Your Hours
of Sleep as a Law Student:
- Create a sleep schedule.
- Create a realistic to-do list.
- Stop the comparison game.
- Be mindful of what you’re consuming.
- Stay active during the day.
- Power down an hour before bedtime.
- Go to bed at the same time every night and wake up at
the same time every morning. - Don’t oversleep on the weekends (and don’t get too
stressed about this).
Create
a sleep schedule.
Having a sleep schedule is one of
the most effective ways to increase your hours of sleep. You should create a
consistent bedtime and wake-up time for yourself, even if you have to get up
early to do it. This will help you get into a routine, which will make it
easier to fall asleep at night and wake up in the morning.
You should also try taking naps
during the day if possible. Naps can help you get more sleep because they allow
you to nap when it’s convenient for you instead of having to wait until late
afternoon or evening to take a nap.
Create
a realistic to-do list.
Create a realistic to-do list. You
don’t have time to be making up for missed sleep by studying in the comfort of
your bed. Create a realistic to-do list from your research, and then prioritize
it based on how long each task takes. This will help you determine which tasks
you can tackle on a limited amount of sleep, and which ones will require more
rest in order for you to be effective at them.
Make sure your schedule is
reasonable. It doesn’t need to be perfect, but it should at least be possible.
Don’t place too many tasks on it at once or else you’ll run out of time and
energy before you even start working on them.
Think about the types of tasks that
will take longer than others and make sure they’re at least halfway down your
list. This way, when you run out of things to do, you’ll have time left over
for sleep!
Stop
the comparison game.
If you’re already thinking about how
much sleep other people are getting, you’re probably thinking about how much
sleep you think they should be getting as well.
Comparing your sleep habits with
other people’s can be a slippery slope. It’s easy to start feeling like you’re
not doing enough, because it’s hard to know what “enough” is when
your definition of “enough” is different from everybody else’s.
But if you stop comparing yourself
to others, and instead just focus on improving the quality of your sleep, then
in time it will become clear just how much better off you are than most people.
Be
mindful of what you’re consuming.
The most important thing to do is to
be mindful of what you’re consuming. If you’re having a cup of coffee in the
morning, don’t have a second cup. If you’re drinking soda, don’t have another
can. If you’re eating a meal and then another one, don’t eat both meals at
once.
It’s important to take this step
because you need to get your brain into a state where it can focus on things
like schoolwork and studying properly, which is why it’s so detrimental to eat
food before going to bed or drink anything with caffeine in it.
It’s also important for your mental
health. When people aren’t getting enough sleep, they can often become
depressed or anxious, which can lead them down a path toward other unhealthy
habits like smoking cigarettes or abusing alcohol in order to self-medicate
their feelings (which can cause more problems than they’re worth).
Stay
active during the day.
The key to getting more sleep is to
make sure you are staying active during the day.
If you are more tired at night, it
can be difficult to fall asleep. You may also feel like your body is trying to
tell you something: maybe you’re hungry, maybe you need to go out and exercise.
In order for your body to tell your
brain that it’s time for bed, it will have to reduce the stimulation and
increase the relaxation in your system. This means that if you have been doing
anything physically active during the day, then chances are that those
activities will go on while you’re sleeping.
Staying active throughout the day
means that even if you don’t feel like exercising when it is time for bed,
chances are that your body will still be working so hard that it will still
want rest.
Power
down an hour before bedtime.
If you’re going to try to sleep
more, the most important thing you can do is power down an hour before bedtime.
That’s when the body’s hormones — like melatonin — are at their lowest levels,
so you’ll feel less tired and be more likely to fall asleep.
If you’re an early riser, try going
to bed earlier than usual. Your body will be tired enough that it won’t want to
fight sleep any longer than necessary. If you wake up at 7:30 or 8 o’clock in
the morning, try falling asleep by 10:00 or 11:00 p.m. Try not to go past
midnight unless there’s no way around it (like if your roommate has work
early).
Go
to bed at the same time every night and wake up at the same time every morning.
Go to bed at the same time every
night and wake up at the same time every morning. This will help you fall
asleep faster and stay asleep longer. If you go to bed too early, it will be
hard for you to fall asleep later, so try going to bed just before midnight if
possible. If you’re going to be studying all day (which is common), try taking
a nap during the afternoon if necessary.
Keep your bedroom window open all
night so that you can hear cars outside or other noises from outside that might
keep you awake. Even if it’s still chilly outside, keep your window open so
that everything sounds loud and clear in your room!
Set aside 30 minutes for relaxing
activities like reading or watching television before going to bed. If
possible, try not to eat within three hours of bedtime. This will help ensure
that your brain doesn’t overwork itself during the day by eating when it should
be sleeping.
Don’t
oversleep on the weekends (and don’t get too stressed about this).
Don’t forget about weekends!
Everyone needs a little more sleep during the weekend, but don’t let yourself
oversleep because then it’ll be harder for you to get back on track after exams
are over.
Conclusion:
I hope this was helpful and helped
you discover your best practices for sleeping. If you have any other tips,
please let us know in the comments!