It’s one in the morning and you’re stressing.
You’re staring at the clock, as if somehow the hands will leap off of the numbers and magically help you finish your assignment, and you realize you need to pull an all-nighter…again.
The problem with trying to do your work when you’re sleep deprived is that your involuntarily drooping eyelids will keep blocking your vision. It feels like someone attached anchors to each lid while you weren’t looking, to put it lightly. We’ve all been there.
“Stay awake. Stay awake. Stay….” You’ve drifted off. Again.
As a college student, keeping yourself awake and alert during the day while also managing to hold a social life and be productive can seem almost impossible. We are always feeling tired and it seems it’s become a part of our culture, like hangovers and Bento.
While the experts say we should be getting seven to nine hours of sleep a night since a good night’s rest makes for a productive day and healthy living, but what if we can’t sleep at night? If we don’t sleep soundly at night then how can we be expected to stay awake during the day?
Adderall, right?
Not quite. It may seem harmless, but that little magic “study pill” has the same effects on the brain as speed does. People tend to use Adderall to help them create the link between intelligence and the capacity to be productive, according to a New York Times interview, but it can be both highly addictive and cause health problems. We’re all intelligent individuals and should be able to produce work without medicating ourselves. Believe it not, there are tons of ways to naturally stimulate your brain.
Via: contactzilla.com
Exercising sucks (no one knows that better than I do), but it’s a critical part of a productive day and a healthy sleep cycle. Exercise delivers oxygen to your brain, so it gives your entire body the oxygen and energy that it requires to be at heightened awareness. If you start your day off by exercising for 30 minutes, giving yourself ideally 2 hours before your next class, you’ll be good for the day. You won’t have to feel guilty about anything you’re eating the rest of the day and because you woke up early, you avoided the killer Florida sun that beats down on you. Plus, now you’re awake enough to do those readings or finish that assignment that’s due before class. It’s really a win-win situation. At night you’ll be exhausted from a full day’s productivity, and you’ll be able to drift off instantly. You may be thinking “There is no way I could wake up at 7 a.m. every day,” but after two weeks it’ll feel like nothing. After approximately two weeks, you’ll have a sleep shift where your new schedule will begin to feel normal to your body. Wake up earlier and go to sleep earlier and you’ll own the day.
Getting your daily sweat on can work wonders, but hydration is key in staying awake as well. I personally think lemon water possesses secret Red Bull powers. It’s tangy, energizing taste keeps me awake, while the lemon gives your body a boost of vitamin C. They also help you digest food better, so instead of feeling sluggish all the time, you’ll feel a bit more energized. I find that in drinking lemon water, the zest shoots my brain into focusing on the subject at hand. Lemons can also serve as a detox. The detoxing process takes compounds present in the liver that are toxic to cells and converts them to non-harmful or less harmful versions. These toxins can range from caffeine to ibuprofen. So, with a simple glass of lemon water in the morning, we’re adding vitamin C, creating more energy, keeping ourselves hydrated and detoxing whatever was in that red Solo cup the night before.
Put your long-term relationship with caffeine on hold. If you’re a gold member at Starbucks or pride yourself on the plastic cup you carry around for 25 cents off at your next purchase, enough is enough! Besides the fact that once you fill your coffee cup with sugar and milk and fancy flavored syrups, you’re drinking an abundance of unnecessary calories, caffeine also dehydrates you. Yes, that means energy drinks have to stop too. The come-down of energy drinks can leave you feeling more tired than you were to begin with. Energy drinks, which take about six hours of 1/2 of the caffeine in your body to dissipate from the body, will likely cause insomnia. Do yourself a favor and switch to tea. That way you’ll actually be able to put yourself to bed.
Make friends with bananas. Your diet is critical to getting enough rest at night and potassium plays a beneficial role. Chow down on too much protein and you could be up all night, eat no protein and you could pass out from no energy. The balance is confusing, so I’m going to focus on what isn’t difficult to understand. Bananas possess significant amounts of potassium and magnesium, which are natural muscle relaxants that make for more restful sleep, so make a quick banana smoothie or dip one in some peanut butter before bedtime. Not into the yellow fruits? Sweet potatoes, lima beans and papaya all fulfill your potassium needs.
Eat your Wheaties. Well, not just cereal, but eggs, whole grain waffles and toast, fruit, yogurt — the list goes on and on. Your mom always said it was the most important meal of the day, and she’s right, because breakfast is the fuel that kickstarts your body . I hear a lot of people always say they just “can’t eat” in the mornings, but those same people are slugging around in the afternoons. Just a piece of toast or a protein bar can give your body a boost to start the morning off right. Plus breakfast foods are hands down the best ones, ask Leslie Knope if you don’t believe me.
Meditate. Relaxing your body by relaxing your mind can help you find your way to dreamland in a jiffy. Try a simple crossed-leg position where you focus on only your breathing. Even taking 5-10 minutes to do this can help de-stress your mind. How many times have you sat awake in bed thinking of all of the things you have to do the next day? #STRESSFUL. Instead of stressing, which raised cortisol levels in your body and causes sleep deprivation, try freeing your mind from all of the thoughts that consume you during the day. Hopefully, you’ll be able to relax yourself enough to hit the pillow like Sleeping Beauty.
Feeling dead tired can seem like the end of the world. Keeping yourself energized throughout the day will help you stay awake and will also help you wind down when it’s finally time to hit the pillow at night. Hopefully with these few pieces of advice, instead of lying on your mattress counting sheep, you’ll be off dreaming for the seven hours you deserve. Treat your body the way it should be treated and gasp! imagine a world where you got all your work done and a full night’s rest. Dare to dream.
