5-best ways for students to wake up early at 4 AM
Quick summary
· Around 80% of college students claim poor sleep affects decrease their academic performance.
· Collegians have said that sleep problems are the second most crucial cause of challenges with academic performance.
· The American Academy of Sleep Medicine has advised that children of 6–12 years old should sleep 9–12 hours at night.
· Plan an inspiring action to be motivated to get up from your bed.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pqXEzmd3lcQ
Why most of the students don’t get enough sleep?
“More than 2 out of 3 high school-aged adolescents aren’t getting enough sleep, and the situation seems to be getting worse”[1]. Why? Here are some reasons:
1. Stress
One important consequence of stress is that it may cause bad sleep. On the other hand, by a good sleep at night you may overcome the day’s stress more easily.
2. Wrong habits
For example, when you eat right before your bedtime, it may cause difficulties to relax and fall asleep.
3. Vast usage of caffeine
4. Devices
Have you watched yourself constantly checking your own social media messages into the night?
Why should you get up early?
1. Alertness
Reading and learning require constant alertness and rising early will enhance your alertness.
2. Mood
Waking up early is an effective factor to create a positive mood. According to the researches, a good mood enhances some kinds of learning.
3. Health
· Poor sleep is one of the main causes of high weight.
· “Adequate sleep duration may be important for preventing cardiovascular diseases in modern society”[2].
4. Concentration and productivity
· According to US National Library of Medicine National Institutes of Health, “Adequate sleep the night prior to an examination was positively associated with student course grades and semester GPAs”[3].
· Around 80% of college students claim poor sleep affects decrease their academic performance.
· Collegians have said that sleep problems are the second most crucial cause of challenges with academic performance.
5. Depression
· Poor sleeping is in direct proportion to depression, particularly for those with a sleeping disorder.
· “Education and the application of policies regarding sleep hygiene may prevent, in some cases, the development of depression and improve the quality of sleep in other cases”[4].
How much sleep is enough?
The American Academy of Sleep Medicine has advised that children of 6–12 years old should sleep 9–12 hours at night.
Teenagers between 13–18 years old should sleep 8–10 hours[5].[6]
How to go to sleep?
1. Set a specific time to go to bed.
2. Reduce your caffeine usage. “Caffeine can impact the onset of sleep and reduce sleep time, efficiency, and satisfaction levels”[7]. [8]
3. Don’t use screen (including your mobile phones, tablets, laptops, PCs, video game screen, etc) at least one hour before sleep. A Harvard sleep researcher said: “Light at night is part of the reason so many people don’t get enough sleep”[9].
4. Tremendous drinking of alcohol may result in deep sleep loss and other symptoms, which can cause drowsiness, headaches, and queasiness. Researches have also shown that “College students who engage in binge drinking tend to earn lower grades than students who don’t abuse alcohol, according to a newly released report”[10].
5. Keep your bedroom silent and in darkness. “The absence of light sends a critical signal to the body that it is time to rest”[11].
5-best ways to wake up early for students
- Plan an inspiring action to be motivated to get up from your bed. That should be an activity that you like much; exercise, listen to your favorite music, eat a delicious -and healthy!- breakfast, etc.
2. Write a timetable of your morning routine and adhere to it. Don’t change your habit drastically! You may change your bedtime habits about 5 minutes a day. If you were successful, reward yourself!
3. Make your diet healthy.
4. Set an alarm on your mobile phone at 4 o’clock (the time you want to get up)
5. Take a cold shower and drink coffee -generally caffeine. That will energize you.
Final Tips
· To set an alarm, if you suffer from mobile phone addiction, you can use an alarming clock instead of your smartphone.
· Don’t study in bed! The bed is a place where your body gets relaxed and if you do so your body gets confused.
· If you don’t like the terrible noise of the alarming clock, you can ask a friend of yours to call you and talk with you. That will help you not feel sleepy anymore.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6veMHgxcDJE
References
https://www.bestcolleges.com/blog/tips-for-waking-up-early/
https://revisingrubies.com/how-to-wake-up-early-in-the-morning-and-study/
https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/10-reasons-why-good-sleep-is-important
[1] https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/67/wr/mm6703a1.htm?s_cid=mm6703a1_w
[2] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2845795/
[3] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4571043/
[4] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6361309/
[5] Paruthi S, Brooks LJ, D’Ambrosio C, et al. Consensus statement of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine on the recommended amount of sleep for healthy children: methodology and discussion. J Clin Sleep Med 2016;12:1549–61.
[6] https://www.cdc.gov/healthyschools/features/students-sleep.htm
[7] https://www.sleepfoundation.org/nutrition/caffeine-and-sleep
[8] https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26899133/
[9] https://www.health.harvard.edu/staying-healthy/blue-light-has-a-dark-side
[10] https://news.psu.edu/story/172329/2009/11/16/study-inverse-relationship-between-alcohol-abuse-and-college-gpa
[11] http://sleep.mysplus.com/library/category2/article1.html
