Being a student keen on attaining the highest grades, it creates much-added pressure to your life. This leads to an excessive amount of stress, which if you’re not careful can create high levels of anxiety too.
It’s important to avoid stress getting to this level and to reduce it wherever possible. Otherwise, it will affect your ability to study effectively, retain the information, and pass examinations at the appropriate times of the year.
If you’re suffering from stress and feel your sleep and stress levels are partly to blame, here are some helpful tips to assist you.
Intentionally Reduce the Amount of Stress You’re Feeling
To get a better night’s sleep, it’s necessary to avoid going to bed still stressed from your day. This might seem obvious but that doesn’t mean that students do that. Why? Possibly because no one ever taught you that it was the right approach to take.
Working out is a great way to reduce stress. If you’re getting closer to the day’s end and you’re a ball of stress, then curtail that by going walking, jogging, or hitting the gym several hours before you’ll hit the hay. However, avoid exercising too near to your bedtime as it can interfere with getting off to sleep.
Prepare Your Mind for Sleep
Just like you prepare your mind for a class, a lecture or to complete an assignment at home, it’s useful to adopt the same practice for better sleep too.
There are different ways to approach this depending on what’s bothering you.
For instance, if you’re excessively worried about maintaining your grades, then this will stress you all the time! Decide for yourself that you will try your best to attend classes, complete assignments, and whatever else is required, and then let go of the result. Ultimately, if you’ve done your best, that’s all you can do.
Worrying excessively at the nighttime before trying to sleep won’t improve the results. It will potentially make it worse because not getting enough restful sleep affects levels of attention and the memory center of the brain too – both needed to be the best student you can be.
Make it a point to switch off any serious thoughts at least 30 minutes before bedtime. Force yourself to stop thinking about your studies.
Deal with Back-Related or Arthritis Issues Causing Sleep Problems
You might not realize but if you have chronic pain from a back problem or the early onset of arthritis, it will make sleeping more difficult due to the discomfort. Going through a study program while living with this is admirable, but you needn’t suffer.
There are adjustable beds that provide relief from back and other pressure points when lying down. These types of beds aren’t only used for seniors like mentioned in EachNight’s post, they help anyone who’s in chronic pain and finds sleep hard to get.
Do Something Less Mentally Strenuous Before Bedtime
Use the last hour before bedtime to slow your mind down and create greater relaxation. Doing this will also help to take your mind off studying and the stress those thoughts create.
Look for things you enjoy that don’t require a high level of energy or mental activity. If playing chess, listening to a nature soundtrack, or a podcast is what you get pleasure from and lets you slow down, then purposely do that in the last hour. That way, when you retire to bed, you’ll automatically feel calmer and likely have a better night of rest.
Sleeping better isn’t just about getting your rest. It’s also about finding ways to relieve the stress before you reach the bedroom. Using an effective strategy to calm your mind helps enormously with how much quality sleep you get every night.
