5 Tips to Maintain a Healthy Sleep Schedule

By Christina Peng

Beckman High School

During the summer months, without the constraints of school to keep students’ sleep schedules from drifting away into the abyss, it’s easy to fall into an irregular sleep schedule. In order to balance your circadian rhythm, these are some tips for you to reset your derailed sleep schedule.

Tip 1: Schedule your sleep. Plan an ideal bedtime and begin winding down routine 30-60 minutes before it. Avoid drinking caffeine, alcohol, and sugar as they can interfere with going to sleep and staying asleep.

Tip 2: Limit light exposure before bedtime. Though the night mode feature is helpful in limiting blue light and reducing eye strain, your electronic devices can still distract you with notifications. Turn off your phone, computer, and any other electronic devices before bedtime if possible. Move your phone a good distance away so you can’t browse through it as you lay in bed. Darkness will signal your brain to produce melatonin, the sleep inducing hormone. 

Tip 3: Back away from the Snooze button! Though it can be extremely tempting to press snooze and squeeze in a few extra minutes of shuteye, it can actually make you more drowsy during the day, because it interrupts your natural sleep cycle. Take advantage of the natural light in the morning to tell your brain to wake up and stay alert.

Tip 4: Don’t nap during the day if you’re struggling to fall asleep at night. Napping can disrupt your natural sleep schedule. Instead of napping, when you are feeling tired, try going outside and taking a brisk walk. You may need to adjust to an earlier bedtime if napping is a regular occurrence. If you must nap, keep it to about 20 minutes. 

Tip 5: Optimize your sleeping environment. Sanctify your bed area to a place where you only go to sleep. Limit eating food, watching shows, or working in bed as that will taint your boundaries and make it harder for you to fall asleep. By going to bed only when you are sleeping, it triggers your brain to sleep mode.

A regular sleep schedule will not only increase the number of sleep hours you get, but it will also improve the quality of sleep. It is important to get your sleep back on track especially during these tough times.