Your alarm goes off, and your Conscience is screaming at you, “School time, Get up! GO! GO! GO! GO!”, Just another day. You crawl sluggishly to the bathroom, your brain half dead. You hear that nagging whisper constantly…mumbling sleep, sleep, sleep. School becomes a struggle, stumbling from class to class. You reach out to embrace the power of knowledge, but it escapes your grasp every time. Concentration fails you. The answers to problems presented are always one step ahead. Your mind knows what to say, but your lips struggle to form the words. Your teacher seems to be merely moaning, as your comprehension of language slowly fades. Your temper flares at an instant, and by the time you question yourself, pain has already been inflicted. Your once flawless skin is now scarred by stress marks. A decent Starbucks begins to fail, and you are forever hungry. You are dying inside, as you succumb to the most trivial of ailments send you home. Your mind is going off on its own. You are not becoming a zombie, nor developing multi-personality disorder. Going crazy? Maybe, since you are lacking sleep.
It is a known fact that sleep is essential. There are no substitutes. What is lesser known is that sleep, or rather a lack of it, limits the functions and workings of the mind, causing you to forget the essential, such as a date, or test information, as well as weakening your immune system, and gaining weight. Mentally, you grow depressed, resulting in more lack of sleep, causing more depression; a vicious cycle. But for the adolescent, slight insomnia cannot be helped. During adolescence, natural sleep patterns shift toward the later hours, hence, the classic case of teen insomnia, but there are solutions to some restless factors in sleep; the bane of teen insomnia.
First, prioritize sleep, in Asian mind-set speak; more sleep equals better grades. Be consistent with your sleep; have a daily bed-time and wake-time. This allows the body to synchronize itself to its natural schedule, and allows you to fall asleep faster. Keeping a routine before bed can also signal the body to prepare itself for bed.
Your environment helps as well. Keep your room cool, quiet, and dark, essentially a beckoning invitation to sleep. If anxiety is the problem, keep a to-do list or diary so that you can put the mind at ease.
Refrain from eating, drinking, and exercising within the hours before bed. Keep to calming activities, and your body will follow your mind into restfulness.
Caffeine will affect your sleep, especially in the late hours of the day. This includes Coffee, Coke, Pepsi, any sort of tea, and chocolate. If you drink, don’t.
Planning your school schedule, specifically your morning classes, may help you wake up in the morning. Stress here is actually a good thing. P.E. or a similar class that can give you a “shock”, is desirable.
Finally naps; well planned naps, that is. Too lengthy a nap would mess up your sleep pattern, causing you to sleep later. This applies to naps within hours of bedtime.
Some things, however, can be done by the school, such as starting classes an hour later every day. Since students usually do homework at night, they will, under ordinary circumstances, receive that extra hour of sleep.
Sleep, something we all need: student, teacher, or staff regardless. I hope that we can all do our part in combating the damaging effects of a lack of sleep. But it all starts with you, the individual, to take that first step.
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