How to Catch Up on Sleep

01/14/2012 12:44

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It’s amazing how easy it is to get out of your school sleep routine over winter break. It seems four months of going to bed and waking up early is no match for three nights of staying up until 2 or 3 AM. By the time break is over, it appears that any hope of getting back into a normal rhythm is lost.

Going through this struggle a few times a year (winter, spring, and summer break) is enough to make you wonder if humans are even meant to wake up early. Not to mention that during this time of the year, if you have an eight o’clock class, you probably have to roll out of bed before the sun has even risen – which is just unnatural and wrong.

So, what is a sleepy college student to do? Sure, you could do an internet search and come up with plenty of sites offering responsible ways, from sleep experts, on how to get your sleep cycle back on track. But, doesn’t that just sound like more work? If you don’t want to worry about things like avoiding caffeine and alcohol before bedtime, or going to bed at the same time every night, then catch up on a few zzzzs by following these suggestions:

1. Sleep in on Monday, Wednesday, Friday for one week and then on Tuesday, Thursday the next week.

No one wants to walk into class late (or not at all) two class periods in a row. But, if you rotate your laziness between days then you can avoid such obviousness. Note, you probably don’t want to do this for more than a few weeks or else you’ll tick off your professor and you might mess up your attendance.

2. Sleep in the car

Do you have a break between classes? Instead of spending time in the student center or in the library, go to your car, set your phone alarm and take a nap. Besides catching up on sleep, you’ll also be able to keep your parking spot – a win, win.

3. Sleep in class

 Everyone has those courses where everything you need to know is in the textbook and going to class is just a formality. If the class is large enough (preferably in one of those big, theater-type rooms), just find a seat in the back, prop your head up on something (you don’t want to be blatant about it), and take a snooze. It can take some practice to learn how to sleep sitting up, but once mastered, it is a skill you can use in many areas of life.

For other, more creative ideas, check out this article at mentalfloss. Granted, it describes ways to sleep at work, but many are equally effective at school. The “sleep safe tape” is especially cool … and a little creepy.