Did you know that for centuries, sleep deprivation was (allegedly) used as a method of torture by the CIA? Lack of sleep has extreme negative consequences on the human body from fatigue, cognitive issues, and even hallucinations.
To be clear, this isn’t a random fun fact that you shelve away until your next trivia night. Many students struggle with getting enough sleep. For example, a student posted into our anonymous Slack discussion forum - #hsc-and-beyond:
How to fix sleep schedule? I sleep at 3am and feel tired the whole day but I feel like I can only concentrate after 12am. Sometimes I finish my work early but I just go on my phone till 3am anyways. Please help, thank you!
Sounds like you? This article contains a compilation of advice from our team of tutors at Project Academy, past and present, who’ve been there and done that. Keep scrolling to hear their insights!
(Unless you’re reading this when you should be asleep, in which case please come back tomorrow morning instead 🤨).
Shift your mindset about sleep
Rishabh Jain - Ex-Project Tutor
”You will never change anything that you are willing to tolerate.”
First and foremost, you need to be determined to change this bad habit. If you keep making excuses and tolerate your sleeping habits, nothing will change. Because realistically, sleeping at 3am is a really bad habit. Carrying on with your day while suffering from fatigue is a really bad habit. “Doom scrolling” on TikTok for hours on end, is a really bad habit.
And you need to be uncomfortable with the fact that you do it.
Change your screentime habits
Rishabh Jain - Ex-Project Tutor
Screens emit blue light. This suppresses our body’s production of melatonin (the sleepy hormone), making it difficult to fall asleep. Your brain is also being stimulated by whatever you’re reading or watching, keeping you awake!
Guilty of doom-scrolling?
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Track your screen time. Awareness is the first step to change.
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Turn off notifications for non-urgent messages (you don’t need to know who liked your photo, who just followed you on Instagram or if your friend sent you a streak photo on Snapchat).
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Turn your phone off at a specific time every night, and physically put it away (maybe even give it to a sibling/parent to hide somewhere so that you can’t access it) — when you increase the friction between you and a task you’re far less likely to do it.
Studying until the wee hours of the morning?
We love the enthusiasm, but that’s not ideal either. Sure, your essay might be 5% better than it was before, but you wouldn’t be able to remember half of what you wrote anyway because you’d be so tired the next day.
Make sure you clock off at a reasonable hour. Put your laptop away, and get some well-deserved rest.
Image credit: ShutEye. https://shuteye.ai/sleep-memes/
Train your body clock
Michelle Zhang - Maths Tutor
To complement my Psychology major, I actually did an elective course on sleep and circadian rhythms (your internal body clock!). Boy oh boy, some of the info I learnt was groundbreaking. Basically, the aim is to train your body to sleep and wake up at the same time, so you can consistently get enough sleep!
- Your bed is only for sleeping
You can (and should) train your brain to associate your bed with sleeping. That way, when you climb under the covers, your brain will think “Oh, a bed! Must be time to sleep”. If you let your brain associate the bed with these other activities, it will get distracted when it’s time to snooze, making it difficult to fall asleep. If possible, don’t do anything in bed other than sleep. Don’t eat, don’t watch Netflix, don’t study.
- Set up your room so that it makes you sleepy
It could be anything, really - lavender aroma diffusers, setting the AC to a blissful 18 degrees, telling your family to be quiet, using an eye mask to make it dark, buying a white noise machine…it depends on personal preference.
- Get light exposure first thing in the morning
Open the blinds or turn on the light immediately after waking up. This helps your body recognise that it’s daytime! It will then produce less melatonin (the sleepy hormone) and start producing serotonin and cortisol instead, to get you up and going!
An example - Leticia’s 14-day reset
Leticia Liao - Head of Programs
At the end of the 14 days, I almost forgot what it feels like being a night-owl!
I had the same problems when I was in Year 12. I always thought I was a night-owl and I could only hype myself up to do work after 11pm, meaning my days started and ended late.
During my 2 week study break before Trials I decided to challenge my nocturnal self by starting the day (painfully) early. I also planned out my entire study day to maximise my productivity.
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8:30-9:00 AM: Arrive at Project, print past papers, set up for the day
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9:00-12:00 PM: Study Session 1
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12:00-1:00 PM: Lunch Break
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1:00-4:00 PM: Study Session 2
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4:00-4:30 PM: Frisbee/ Run/ Snack
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4:30-7:30 PM: Study Session 3
I was lucky enough to have access to Grasslands and other lovely Project Academy study spaces, as well as friends and tutors who would come in at around the same time and hype me up. It wasn’t only the external satisfaction (motivation from peers) that kept me going, it was also the internal satisfaction of knowing that I can “win my morning” by having a solid routine and taking full control of how I spent my time. I have never felt more accomplished than smashing out a major task before lunch! By the time I went home and had dinner, almost every day I passed out in bed straight after at 10 pm because I was just so tired.
At the end of the 14 days, I almost forgot what it feels like being a night-owl!
(Note: this schedule is designed in preparation for Trials. I wouldn’t recommend doing this every day of the year as you will easily burn out! I’ve always prioritised my needs and will cut a session short if I am feeling drained.)
Now, even though research shows that it takes 66 days on average to concretely form a new habit (Lally et al., 2009), I was still proud of myself after my 14-day reset. The moral of the story is that you CAN absolutely change up that schedule if you want it enough.
Conclusion
We hope this article was helpful! Remember, blunt axes can’t cut trees. If your mind and body are exhausted, you won’t be able to run the marathon we call the HSC.
Stay tuned for more content like this :)
