The Science of Sleep Hygiene

Words by Rebekah Ward-Johnston (she/her)

It’s 10.30 p.m. 

You’ve had a full-on day of classes, quizzes, watching lectures, and work. 

Racing from one thing to the next. 

Finally, you can tumble into bed for a deep restful sleep. You snuggle down, pick up your phone and start scrolling through reels on Instagram… you look at the clock—12.00am… you put your phone down, close your eyes… and in the silence of the night, your mind starts thinking…

…to-do lists, that time when you were six years old, you re-write parts of an essay, think about your neighbour’s mother’s cat, the plight of the Patagonian Toothfish…

Another couple of hours roll around… and finally you drop off into an unsatisfying sleep. Suddenly, your blaring alarm abruptly disrupts your slumber, you slap the alarm off, and roll over to sleep a little longer.

Sound familiar?

So how does one break the crap sleep cycle?

There are three things to consider 

- The physiology of sleep

- How your lifestyle plays into your sleep routine

- Managing those busy thoughts

Physiology

Melatonin is a hormone that helps your body fall asleep. Blue light from screens can disrupt the production of this hormone. You can also encourage your body to make melatonin at the right time of day, throw open your curtains in the morning to get sunlight on your face when you wake up, and turn down the brightness of lights in the evening. 

Caffeine: I’m not sure I need to spell it out, but in case I do need to… caffeine is a sleep killer! If you must have a triple shot americano or a V Pocket Rocket hit, make sure you have them before lunch time, so you’re not battling caffeine to get to sleep.

Restlessness: if you find yourself tossing and turning, probably because you’ve been on the go all day, you can actually turn off the restless feeling through deep breathing, meditation, and relaxation exercises. Insight Timer is an app that has free guided relaxation exercises to help with sleep. Another option, if you have Netflix, is the interactive guided Headspace meditation. 

Lifestyle;

Routine: wake up and go to sleep roughly the same time every day. If your routine is out of whack, start by moving your wake-up time half an hour earlier every couple of days. And as you move your wake-up time, move your bedtime. This may mean that you’ll also need to adjust your evening routine.

And whilst we all know there are going to be times where you are studying late into the night, try to keep your study to 9–5. It’s a great habit to get into, for when you enter the working world. It also gives you time to have a life outside of studying.

Calming the busy mind with thoughts that crowd in

Find ten minutes in your day to sit and do nothing, no music, no phone, no people. Just sit somewhere quiet, breathe and let your mind wander. Give your brain some time during the day to deal with the thoughts that have only had the chance to surface at bedtime. Some people find journalling super useful.

Write a to-do list—think of the list as a place to park your tasks. It frees up the brain for more important things… like sleep. 

Now, if sleep still eludes you, head down to Student Health for extra help.