40+ tips and tricks for students to embrace the power of sleep for wellbeing and learning
Sleeping habits at university
1. Why is sleep so important for students?
Spend enough time on any university campus, and it probably won’t be long before you hear someone talk about last night’s sleep – or the lack of it. Perhaps they had to get up early for a lecture after enjoying a night out, or they stayed up until the morning completing an assignment.
Poor sleeping habits, such as a lack of routine or not getting the right amount of sleep, are common – and even normalised – among university students. Sacrificing sleep or sleeping at unconventional times is accepted as the reasonable choice to maintain a balance between study demands and socialising.
But the impact of poor sleep shouldn’t be underestimated.
Sleep is the cornerstone of a healthy lifestyle, affecting everything from physical health to mental clarity and emotional wellbeing. It’s essential for everyone to get the right amount of quality sleep. But for students, sleep has an even more major role to play in how well they’re able to navigate all of the changes in this critical period in their lives, including increased independence, academic pressures, new living arrangements, and fresh social events.
Wellbeing at university
It’s no secret that while these changes come with lots of great opportunities, student lifestyles are full of challenges too. Student mental health has been the focus of many studies, reports and surveys, with many people finding this period difficult to navigate. One of the most recent and prominent reports titled ‘Student mental health in 2023: Who is struggling and how the situation is changing’ – a joint effort between King’s College London’s Policy Institute and TASO – confirms that mental health problems are on the rise amongst university students.
The number of students who said they had experienced mental health difficulties rose from 6% to 16% between 2017 and 2023, meaning around one in six now report such challenges. That’s a statistic which has almost tripled in just six years.
The report also acknowledges the “growing recognition that the psychological, inner lives of students matter as much to their studies as does their intelligence, if they are to succeed in their studies and later into life.” Mental health can impact how well someone does at university. It can make it harder to focus in lectures, present challenges for creating a structure for revision or make deadlines difficult to meet.
One of the ways we can support better mental health is improving our sleep. Mental health problems, such as depression, anxiety and stress, can impact whether or not you get a good night’s rest; poor sleep can affect how well you deal with negative emotions and make everyday life more challenging. But the good news is that this relationship means taking care of one can also have a knock-on effect on improving the other.
To echo what Wendy Robinson of CALM told The Tab:
“Whether it’s struggling with assignment deadlines, exams, money worries or your social life, being at uni can be really tough. If you’re struggling, you’re not alone.”
We all know how it feels to wake up without a good night’s rest – the sluggish, unmotivated feeling remains with you for the rest of your day. And while sleep is just one small element that makes up how someone is feeling, when this is happening regularly and your sleeping habits are making everyday life a challenge, it can feel very isolating and overwhelming.
But you’re not facing these struggles alone. Lots of students are exploring ways they can improve their sleep and, as a result, enjoy feeling better about themselves and their studies. Let’s dive in.
Sources of support
An introduction to sleep hygiene
The odd late night can make the next day more difficult for us all, but it shouldn’t impact our long-term wellbeing. Rather, it’s the routine of short-changing yourself on sleep regularly that can start to impact your lifestyle – how well you’re feeling or how much effort you can put into studying.
It’s not just about how much sleep you’re getting, though.
Sleep hygiene refers to both the quantity and quality of rest. It’s all about the environment you create and the behaviours you embrace in order to set yourself up for improved sleep. Strong sleep hygiene means having a bedroom environment that’s conducive to peaceful, uninterrupted sleep as well as having a routine and habits that encourage rest.
The great thing about sleep hygiene is that it can be tailored to your individual needs – so, for students who may experience a lot of noise throughout the night, you might need to put more effort into your environment. The habits you embrace for better sleep hygiene can also take into account a student lifestyle too, where you might need to get up for a 9am lecture, for example, but have time later in the day to have a nap (no, really, naps can be good for you, but more on that later).
The aim of sleep hygiene is to think about more than just getting enough sleep. It’s about maximising the quality of your sleep with the things you can influence – chiefly, the environment you’re sleeping in and the things you do throughout the day to set yourself up for rest. The better your sleep hygiene, the more likely you are to sleep soundly throughout the night and wake up well-rested.
If that sounds appealing, then this guide is for you. Here’s just the start of our tips and tricks for students to embrace the power of sleep for wellbeing and learning:
Tips for improving your sleep hygiene
Environment
1. A comfortable bed makes all the difference, but it’s likely you didn’t get to choose yours as a student. Consider if a mattress topper or different pillows would make you more comfortable in a new bed.
2. The optimum room temperature for sleeping is between 16°C and 18°C, so depending on the season, you might want to use a fan or a thicker duvet.
3. The light in the room also makes a difference to your sleep hygiene, with darkness promoting feelings of sleepiness. Having a lamp which you can dim will be much cosier than an overhead light. If light is beaming in from street lights outside, you could consider blackout blinds.
4. You may be limited on space as a student but it’s important to choose what you take to university carefully, as a cluttered bedroom can impact your sleep. You’ll want your room to feel familiar and homely, but be able to keep it tidy throughout the term.
5. Certain smells, including lavender and geranium, can help create a soothing feeling which may help you drift off.
How university tends to impact sleep
Despite knowing how much a good night’s sleep can improve our day, it isn’t always easy to focus on sleep hygiene. Life can – and does – get in the way of the best intentions. The student lifestyle can actually be one of the most impactful on sleep. One survey found that:
19%
had an average sleep time of less than five hours each night
38%
say that sleep problems have worsened their overall mental health
26%
say it has resulted in poorer grades
19%
were turning to alcohol to help aid sleep
Another study focused specifically on first-year students, who are new to university lifestyle, and identified the following challenges amongst those saying their sleep was poor:
Noise problems
The lure of socialising
Unstructured academic lifestyle
Going to university often marks a big transition for young adults as it’s the first time they live away from home. It's a pretty exciting time and you quickly gain a lot of freedom over how you spend your days. There’s a lot less structure over how you study compared with school; so, while attendance might be monitored, no-one is calling your parents to say you haven’t shown up. It’s not unusual for people to struggle with the discipline needed to stick to a routine that balances studies, socialising and other responsibilities.
Sleep is often the thing that gets sacrificed first for students – a theory that’s confirmed with a higher rate of sleep disturbance amongst university students than the general population. According to a study published in the Journal of Further and Higher Education, 36% of individuals fell into the ‘poor sleepers’ category in a general population community sample, whereas in a student sample 75% were identified as poor sleepers.
The researchers went on to report how these sleep problems were impacting students, with self-reported concerns including:
Impaired motivation and enthusiasm to complete university-related work and routines like studying after classes
Limited overall performance the following day after a bad night’s sleep
Turning to procrastination, avoidance and delay
Beliefs that they were less able to focus on learning, remember new information or keep track of their thoughts
Inconsistent or ‘foggy’ attention
Skipping classes
Not all students struggle with sleep, though, and some had successfully implemented their own solutions to interrupted nights. These tricks included maintaining a consistent sleep-wake schedule, playing YouTube videos, or creating a dark room. For those students who were successful in their efforts to get a sufficient number of hours’ sleep, the result was having more energy, better physical health and good levels of motivation.
To benefit from similar feelings, you’ll also want to be focusing on the behaviours you embrace throughout your day which can influence your slumber:
Tips for improving your sleep hygiene
Behaviours
6. A wind-down routine where you take some time to relax and ‘switch off’ from the day is important. What different people find relaxing will vary but could include: listening to music, reading a book, or even writing a to-do list for the next day.
7. Exercising too close to when you’re trying to drift off can make it much harder to fall asleep. But since we all know how good regular exercise is for our health, it’s about figuring out the best time to do certain physical activities. For example, light yoga could help you relax but a run is likely to wake you up.
8. Using technology and engaging with any screen is generally considered detrimental to a restful night. There’s some debate around how much the blue light screens emit impacts sleep, but it’s generally just much easier to stay up when we’re engrossed in our phones. Try and limit screen use for around an hour before bed.
9. Caffeine is also best avoided later in the day, depending on when you want to go to sleep. It helps to keep us alert and awake by blocking sleep-promoting receptors in the brain called adenosine receptors, and it can remain effective for hours – potentially impacting your sleep.
10. Any alcoholic drinks consumed will also have consequences for sleep. It might feel easier to drift off, but the quality of your sleep will be worse. It’s something to bear in mind when you’re planning nights out. You might need to be realistic about how energetic you’ll be the next day, even if you’re not actually hungover.
2. The impact of sleep at university
Completing a degree is already challenging, so completing a degree while regularly struggling with poor sleep can feel really hard. Students taking part in studies mentioned here have commented on how difficult being tired can make completing even basic tasks.
But why exactly does a lack of sleep make things harder for us? We’re going to explore what the science says about sleep and how it impacts us. By understanding more and knowing how certain problems might be linked with a lack of sleep, we can start to learn about what changes can help produce better sleep.
What the science says about sleep
Tricks for using sleep to improve your learning
When you’re studying for a degree, there’s so much to learn. Whether it’s attending lectures or seminars, doing practical sessions, and all of the additional studying you have to do to complete assignments or prepare for exams, learning takes a lot of effort. It’s something that’s made all the more difficult with a lack of sleep. In fact, according to The Sleep Foundation, not sleeping or getting enough sleep can lower your learning abilities by as much as 40%.
When you’re tired, it can feel like you just can’t take information in. And there’s truth to this. While we’re learning, most of the facts and details are temporarily stored in a part of the brain called the hippocampus. The hippocampus’ primary function is to store and process memories and many scientists hypothesise that there’s a limit to how much it can handle at once.
This is something students are well aware of. As one of the participants in the study mentioned above summarised:
“Sleep relaxes your body and allows the brain to focus on other functions and process all the new info[rmation] learnt that day and keep the body healthy and ready for the next day to absorb more information.”
In his book, Why We Sleep, neuroscientist and sleep expert Matthew Walker says that the slow brain waves we experience during stage three sleep (deep NREM sleep) “serve as a courier service,” moving memories from the hippocampus to other more permanent storage sites in the brain.
So how can you enhance the relationship between sleep and learning as a student?
11. Embrace a growth mindset
At university, you need to be engaged in your own learning and development. You’re responsible for your own success, albeit with support. By committing to this, you’re already demonstrating a growth mindset. The term, originally coined by academic scholar Carol Dweck, can be described as follows:
"Individuals who believe their talents can be developed (through hard work, good strategies, and input from others) have a growth mindset. They tend to achieve more than those with a more fixed mindset (those who believe their talents are innate gifts)."
By putting in the hard work, you’re more likely to achieve your goals at university. This includes attending lectures and submitting assignments on time, but also how you set yourself up for success – by sticking to a routine you know benefits your sleep, for example.
But a growth mindset doesn’t just refer to someone’s success. It’s also a way of perceiving challenges and setbacks. For example, if you do have a bad night’s sleep, you shouldn’t write off the next day; instead, reflect and understand that things do go wrong but that they can always be learnt from.
12. Know your learning style
Depending on the course you take, the teaching environment may vary. But it’s likely your studies will involve a lot of lectures, where you just sit and listen. It’s not that uncommon to see someone drifting off.
Although essential for any student to attend, lectures appeal to people with auditory learning styles – those who benefit most from listening to spoken information, lectures, and discussions.
But there are other learning strategies which may suit you better. Visual learners, for instance, prefer seeing information through diagrams, charts, and images. Others do better with a focus on a reading and writing learning style, engaging with any written materials and re-writing it in their own words. The fourth type of learning style is kinesthetic, used to describe those who benefit from learning through hands-on activities and physical movement.
By knowing your predominant learning style, the aim is to expose yourself to the course material in that way to promote a richer understanding of the content.
13. Build on your existing knowledge
However you learn best, a great way to build on your academic confidence is linking new information to existing knowledge. It’s called relational learning. When you’re trying to learn and remember a new topic, all you need to do is to link it to something you already know. Creating these connections between pieces of knowledge makes it more likely that you’ll remember the new information and further cements the existing details.
14. Celebrate your progress and achievements
All too often – at university and in life in general – we’re focused on what’s next. How to do better in the next exam or secure a promising job after graduation. But throughout your time at university, it’s important to make it a habit to reflect on how far you’ve come and what you’ve achieved.
Some people integrate this into their daily routine – by reflecting before bed on things that have gone well or which they’ve enjoyed throughout the day, or starting the day off by waking up and noting what they are grateful or excited for. You don’t have to bookend your day in this way, but it could certainly help how you feel when you drift off or wake up.
Tips for how improving your sleep supports better memory
In order to learn something, you need to retain information so you can use it later. Not only do you need this to pass an exam, but to truly benefit from your course. So, at university, your memory is always at work. In fact, we have to work quite hard to remember things. According to a memory model created by German psychologist Hermann Ebbinghaus (The Forgetting Curve, since replicated by more recent studies), if there are no sincere attempts to retain information, we lose around 50% of all new information within a day and about 90% of all new information within a week.
You have to put effort in for information to be stored in your long-term memory, where it can be retained for hours, days, and years. The ability to move information to this ‘store’ of knowledge which allows us to recall skills, facts, and more for later use is impacted by sleep.
“Sleep is very important for consolidating memories. In any sort of experimental setting, study results show better performance if you learn material and then sleep on it, instead of remaining awake. So there’s lots and lots of evidence now indicating that sleep promotes memory strengthening and memory consolidation,”
Dr. Edward Pace-Schott, Harvard Summer School and Harvard Medical School faculty member and sleep expert says.
Simply, sleeping helps strengthen memories you’ve formed throughout the day. But what else should you be doing to improve your memory?
15. Don’t rely solely on cramming
We’ve all been there. It’s the week of a big exam and you’ve left your revision to the last minute. Try not to be too harsh on yourself. It is possible to cram – to study and remember a lot of information in a short period. You just need to accept this relies on short-term memory, so you’ll only be retaining and regurgitating information, rather than knowing it.
Cramming is also usually associated with a lack of sleep, with students staying up late to revise. It’s not a sustainable approach to studying.
Instead, it’s better to learn at spaced intervals over time to promote retention – this counteracts the forgetting curve. The more often you’re recalling a targeted memory, the more likely you are to retain that information for longer. It’s about regular repetition.
16. Keep revision fresh
Learning is a dynamic and multi-sensory process. We retain long-term knowledge best if we’re exposed to the information in multiple ways, repeated over time.
We’ve covered the role spaced intervals play in this, but another thing to consider is the material you’re studying and how you’re absorbing it. For example, are you just reading study material? Are you rewording it into your own revision cards? Or listening to recordings?
You’ll have a predominant learning style, but there's also a benefit to embracing numerous learning styles when you’re trying to remember something. In Research-Based Strategies to Ignite Student Learning, authors Judy Willis and Malana Willis explain:
“Multiple stimulus means better memory. The more regions of the brain that store data about a subject, the more interconnection there is. This redundancy means students will have more opportunities to pull up all those related bits of data from their multiple storage areas in response to a single cue. This cross-referencing of data strengthens the data into something we've learned rather than just memorised.”
You could also tailor the study stimulus or method to match your current energy levels. For example, create revision cards when you’re feeling refreshed so you can read them at a later stage when motivation might be lower.
17. Work with others
Whether you’re finding a certain topic particularly tricky or simply feeling a bit fed up of going through reading material on your own, studying with others can be enjoyable. But it’s not just the sense of camaraderie that’s useful, group interaction and discussion can help solidify your understanding of a subject. You can collaborate and explore ideas together to cement what you know, as well as learn from others.
18. Look things up when you need to
You might feel like you need to have all the answers after learning something once, but that’s just not realistic. Looking things up when you need to is actually better than sitting there struggling to remember for a long time. If you spend too long trying to recall something, you may end up remembering the wrong information you keep recalling by mistake – otherwise known as the ‘error state’.
So, when you’re finding it hard to remember, just take a moment to appreciate that it takes a lot of repetition for memories to become embedded as easily recalled knowledge. It’s OK – and encouraged – to look things up while studying. You should also know when to call it a day on studying and when you need to get a break or some rest.
Advice for embracing the relationship between sleep and wellbeing
You’re not alone if a bad night’s sleep makes it harder for you to regulate emotions or impacts how well you can respond to stressful situations. Numerous studies have reported that poor sleep is “associated with an altered reactivity and processing of emotional information.” Other studies have found that improving sleep quality reduces depression, anxiety, and stress.
You might feel snappier than usual or generally just feel quite down when you’re deprived of quality sleep. All too often the realisation that these emotional signs are linked to a lack of sleep happens too late, so it can come with guilt too, as it’s easy to feel upset with ourselves for behaving in a way we usually wouldn't.
If you’re worried about your mood or how you’re able to manage your emotions, you should reach out to your GP or seek further advice online from the NHS or charities, such as Mind.
If you’re trying to improve your sleep to harness the benefits for your wellbeing, some tips include:
19. Recognise your own signs
Being able to recognise when tiredness is starting to impact your mood, ability to focus or any other factor can make a huge difference. It’s the starting point for making any changes.
One way of identifying any patterns between your sleeping habits and how you feel is to keep a sleep diary. Ideally, you’d write down details about:
When you went to sleep and woke up
Whether you woke up or were disrupted
How well-rested you felt
As well as the impact the following day on things such as:
How you feel about yourself
How you responded to others
Your ability to concentrate
Your energy levels
Your hunger levels
If you do this for about a week, you’ll learn about your sleep and its impact on your life. This can allow you to make any adjustments you might need – for example, you probably wouldn’t want to do a full day of revision on a bad night’s sleep.
19. Recognise your own signs
Being able to recognise when tiredness is starting to impact your mood, ability to focus or any other factor can make a huge difference. It’s the starting point for making any changes.
One way of identifying any patterns between your sleeping habits and how you feel is to keep a sleep diary. Ideally, you’d write down details about:
When you went to sleep and woke up
Whether you woke up or were disrupted
How well-rested you felt
As well as the impact the following day on things such as:
How you feel about yourself
How you responded to others
Your ability to concentrate
Your energy levels
Your hunger levels
If you do this for about a week, you’ll learn about your sleep and its impact on your life. This can allow you to make any adjustments you might need – for example, you probably wouldn’t want to do a full day of revision on a bad night’s sleep.
20. Have a plan if you have extra pressures
If you’ve got particularly stressful or emotionally challenging situations coming up, think about how you can set yourself up for success – rather than waiting to do damage control. For example, during exam time, you might want to cut down on nights out in favour of getting some extra sleep so you feel better prepared for what can be a stressful time.
21. Stay organised
When we’re not feeling our best or we’re under pressure, it’s often something small or unexpected which upsets or stresses us out in a way we’re not used to. One way of reducing the likelihood of this happening is to control the controllables. In other words, focusing your efforts and energy on aspects of a situation that you can directly influence or manage.
Staying organised at university will allow you to allocate time effectively between study, social activities, and rest, promoting a balanced lifestyle. Don’t feel like you have to do it all yourself, though.
Using planners, calendars, and digital apps can aid your memory so that you’re organised with minimal effort. Some of our favourites include:
Trello
Notion
Ahero
Todoist
Calendly
ClickUp
22. Communicate with the people you live with
Living with other students can be incredibly fun, but they also tend to be the people who see you at your worst – when you’re tired, stressed or generally just not feeling yourself. Learning how to communicate with those around you can make for a more harmonious living situation. If you’re the type of person who needs some space when they’re lacking sleep, letting your housemates know before a tricky situation arises can make all the difference.
It’s as simple as talking more, sharing how you’re feeling and asking them about how things are working for them. You might want to introduce simple changes, such as being quieter at certain times, as a result of the conversations, or it might simply be a way of showing appreciation. Encouraging this kind of open communication is a great foundation for solid friendships that last for years after university.
3. More sleeping tips and tricks
Do you think you’re getting enough quality sleep? If you’re reading into the impact of sleep on your studies, the chances are you’ve already started feeling some of the effects of not getting enough rest. There are many ways a lack of good sleep can affect us, predominantly feeling sleepy the next day. You might feel like you could doze off while doing regular activities like watching TV or sitting on the train. Or you could be finding some of the tasks we’ve mentioned above, such as solving problems, remembering things, and managing your emotions, challenging.
But there’s plenty you can do to improve your sleep. Some pieces of advice we’ve littered throughout this guide and now we turn to the bulk of our tips and tricks for better sleep:
Understanding sleep
23. Set realistic expectations
We’ve addressed the challenges of getting enough sleep at university, but it’s important to not simply accept that university is just a time of your life you need to get by on less sleep.
According to the NHS, on average, adults need seven to nine hours every night. There’s actually not a lot of people who need just six hours or fewer of sleep. These ‘short sleepers’ are rare, although they often get praised or recognised for being high achievers. But most of us need to be realistic that we’ll need more than six hours. So working on getting enough quality sleep is something you should expect to do at university.
24. Understand that sleep is personal
While many of us face similar issues getting enough quality rest, what works for one might not work for another. For example, noise. Some people enjoy and need ambient sounds like rainfall, gentle music or white noise to sleep well, whereas others might benefit from blocking all sounds out with earplugs.
All you can do is test things out for yourself and see what works best for you – but remember to give any adjustment a bit of time to have an impact.
25. Know your chronotype
You might feel jealous at the ease at which your roommate can spring out of bed in the morning, but you’ll probably notice they are one of the first to bed in the evening.
Your chronotype refers to the natural inclination for your body to feel alert at certain times during the day and tired at others. You’ll probably have heard of night owls and morning larks, but the chronotypes are actually categorised with four different animals:
Chronotype
Traits
Ideal schedule
Lion
Early risers with high energy in the morning, but tending to wind down by early evening.
Most alert and productive in the first half of the day.
Bear
The most common chronotype, where alertness and sleepiness follow the solar cycle closely.
Energy levels peak in mid-morning and mid-afternoon, so productivity aligns with standard 9-to-5 work hours.
Wolf
Night owls who struggle with early mornings, and enjoy peak productivity in the late afternoon and evening.
Best performance occurs in the latter part of the day.
Dolphin
Light sleepers often waking up feeling unrefreshed. Amongst the most likely to suffer with sleep issues.
Tend to be more productive in the middle of the day.
While there are aspects of your routine you can’t control (such as the time of your lectures), knowing when you are most likely to feel alert or tired can help you structure your day to get the most out of the times you do feel productive. You’re more likely to get more out of a visit to the library when you’re feeling attentive rather than when you’re starting to struggle with your energy levels.
26. Knowing signs of insomnia
There is, of course, a difference between struggling with your sleep and having a sleep disorder, such as insomnia. You can have insomnia for a short time, which the NHS says would be less than three months. Or you can have long-term insomnia, which is anything lasting three months or longer.
The difference between problems sleeping and insomnia primarily lies in the frequency, duration, and impact of the sleep difficulties. Insomnia is a persistent chronic issue, with problems falling and staying asleep at least three times a week, resulting in significant and ongoing impairment in daily functioning.
If you think you have insomnia and efforts to improve your sleep haven’t worked, talk to your GP.
The benefit of routine
27. Create a schedule that works for you
Routines or schedules are often viewed negatively. They’re associated with rules or restrictions – not necessarily the freedom students expect from independent living at university. And, of course, it is up to you how you manage your own time. But to maximise your energy levels throughout the day, routine is useful. That’s because waking up and going to sleep at consistent times helps to set our body’s clock – our circadian rhythm. This means we’re more likely to feel sleepy at night and wake up well rested.
The idea is to keep three things similar every day: the time you wake up, the time you go to bed, and your overall sleeping duration.
But to make it likely you’ll stick to a routine, it needs to work for you. You’ll need to consider the regular time of your lectures or seminars, as well as socialising opportunities that might keep you up later. It will be a balancing act, but just remember that consistency works wonders for improving your sleep.
28. Know what to do if your routine is interrupted
We know you won’t always be able to stick to a routine. But trying to keep the variation from your typical bedtime and wake-up times can minimise the potential disruption. You can also use other environmental factors to influence your circadian rhythm to maintain a level of consistency. Think about:
The light
Exposing your eyes to light at specific times can help you strategically adjust your circadian rhythms. Getting natural daylight shortly after you wake up should help you feel more alert; staying in darkness should help you remain sleepy. Similarly, in the evenings, you can use artificial light to either create a brighter environment or dim the light to encourage tiredness.
When you eat
Similarly, the time you eat can shift your shift circadian rhythm. If you want to feel awakened earlier, eat earlier. And if you’d rather be awake later into the evening, eat later.
29. Understand the stages of sleep
The stage of sleep you’re in when you wake up can influence how well-rested you feel. There’s non-REM (non-rapid eye movement) sleep stages and a REM (rapid eye movement) sleep stage. Three non-REM stages and one REM stage make up a complete sleep cycle, and you may go through several cycles in a night. A cycle won’t always follow a uniform pattern, but involves:
Non-REM sleep
Stage 1 (N1)
When you’re first drifting off, when you go in and out of sleep. Body and brain activities start to slow and, as long as you’re not disrupted, you’ll move quickly into Stage 2 within minutes.
Stage 2 (N2)
This is the onset of true sleep when your body temperature drops, heart rate slows, and eye movement stops. During the first cycle of sleep, this stage usually lasts around 20 minutes, but it can get longer with each cycle through the night.
Stage 3 (N3)
This is the stage of sleep critical for restorative purposes, allowing for bodily recovery and growth. During Stage 3, brain activity shows up delta waves, which are associated with regenerative deep sleep.
REM sleep
The phase where most vivid dreams occur, the first REM stage typically happens about 90 minutes after falling asleep. Your heart rate and breathing tend to quicken during REM sleep, but muscles remain relaxed. REM sleep is believed to be important for learning and memory.
So if you wake up having had plenty of sleep, but still feeling groggy, it might be that you’ve woken up during a deeper stage of sleep.
30. Don’t forget about the morning
Talking about waking up, it might feel like so far we’ve focused quite heavily on nighttime. But a lot of people struggle with waking up – and staying awake. If you find it all too easy to hit the snooze button on your alarm, having some habits for first thing in the morning can help. These include:
Increase the amount of light in your room
Light helps regulate your circadian rhythms, so it’s a great idea to get sunlight exposure in the morning. In the winter, or if you have blackout blinds, you could consider a gradual light alarm that mimics a sunrise to ease the waking process.
Force yourself out of bed
Consider putting your phone, or whatever you use as an alarm, across the room so you have to get out of bed to turn it off. This can make it harder to hit the snooze button and go back to sleep. It’ll also stop you from scrolling on your phone at night.
Drink water soon after you wake up
It’s easy to become dehydrated overnight, so it's a healthy habit to start the day with a glass of water.
Have something to look forward to
Whether it's a breakfast you enjoy or just a morning coffee, it’s much easier to get out of bed if you’re excited about one of the first things on your agenda for the day.
31. Say ‘no’ to overcommitting
One habit which can dramatically alter your routine is learning to say ‘no’ and avoid overcommitting to numerous plans which leave you feeling exhausted. You’ve got multiple responsibilities and activities to juggle as a student. To maintain a healthy balance, you’ll probably have to say ‘no’ sometimes.
When academic commitments, socialising and extras, such as a part-time job, are all competing for time and attention, learning to say ‘no’ is an important part of the balancing act. This allows you to set boundaries to ensure you have enough time for self-care and rest. The goal of this is to achieve a fulfilling and well-rounded student experience where academic success does not come at the expense of social connections, and vice versa.
The impact of diet and alcohol
32. Eat foods believed to support the production of melatonin
We’ve touched on how when you eat can impact your energy levels, but what you eat also plays a role. It’s believed that certain foods can support better sleep, particularly those which contain tryptophan – an amino acid that's believed to promote sleep because it’s an essential precursor to the sleep-inducing chemical serotonin and the hormone melatonin.
Tryptophan-rich foods include:
Chicken
Turkey
Tuna
Salmon
Milk
Yoghurt
Oats
Dates
Nuts and seeds
Tofu
But for tryptophan to be effective, it needs to compete with other amino acids to cross the blood-brain barrier. Pairing tryptophan-rich foods with carbohydrates can enhance tryptophan's effectiveness. Carbohydrates trigger insulin release, which clears other amino acids from the bloodstream, allowing tryptophan to more easily reach the brain.
33. Time your last meal correctly…
Whatever you’re having for dinner, the time you eat can also impact your sleep. If you’re too full from your meal, it tends to be uncomfortable to lie down and you’re more likely to experience acid reflux or heartburn. Your body needs time to properly digest, so try to have your last meal at least 2-3 hours before bedtime. That should be enough time for your stomach to settle.
34. …and monitor your diet
Not all of the routines or habits we fall into are beneficial. One of the habits many of us struggle with is craving something sugary when we’re feeling a bit of a slump in energy. Sometimes, a chocolate bar or some sweets feels like just the thing you need to get you through a long afternoon.
But this can create a cycle of energy spikes and ensuing crashes that play havoc with sleep. These peaks and troughs mess up your body clock – the natural feelings of alertness and sleepiness which is enhanced with a healthy routine.
The tricky thing is that, if you are experiencing disturbed sleeping patterns, you’re more likely to turn to junk food the next day. According to research, this increased energy intake as a result of poor sleep is made up partly from excessive snacking, mainly on foods high in fat and carbohydrates.
It’s often about breaking the cycle of less-than-ideal food choices and bad sleep, which only starts by recognising the unhelpful habits in the first place.
35. Understand how drinking alcohol will impact sleep
Another important thing to recognise when trying to get a better night’s rest is the impact of alcohol. A student lifestyle is associated with an increase in drinking (although research shows young adults are drinking less alcohol than previous generations), which will have a negative impact on your sleep. It’s not just the hangover causing fatigue the day after a night of drinking – alcohol affects the quality of your sleep.
You may drift off quicker, but it interferes predominantly with your REM sleep, meaning you have a less restorative night's rest. And as the sedative effects of alcohol diminish, you could also be waking up more or staying longer in lighter stages of sleep. Add to that the fact alcohol is a diuretic, causing increased urine production and potential dehydration, and you can experience a very broken night.
There are some small changes you can make to minimise how much drinking alcohol impacts your sleep, though. These include:
Trying to finish your last drink three or four hours before you’re going to sleep, giving your body time to metabolise the alcohol.
Staying hydrated by drinking lots of water alongside your alcohol consumption.
Eating some food to slow the absorption of alcohol into your bloodstream, reducing its overall impact.
Optimising your naps
36. Discover whether naps work for you
Napping can have numerous benefits, including feeling more alert and refreshed, but it’s not for everyone. Many people experience sleep inertia when napping (when you wake up feeling disoriented and confused), or struggle to sleep later that night after a daytime snooze.
Whether napping works for you depends on individual lifestyles, schedules, and how it affects your personal sleep pattern. It’s something you’ll have to figure out by simply experimenting.
37. Be strict with naps
There are some tricks for more effective napping, though. Shorter naps (around 20-30 minutes) tend to help avoid that groggy feeling, because you wake up before heading into the deeper stages of sleep. Napping in the early afternoon tends to interfere less with nighttime sleep, but that all depends on when you go to bed.
In the same way you need a quiet, dark, and comfortable environment at night, a similar environment is beneficial for napping.
Creating a restful sleeping environment
38. Creating a restful sleeping environment
While you’re in rented accommodation like student halls, you’ll need to focus on temporary changes you can make to your space. A lot of things can be brought with you from home and anything you do need to purchase, you’ll be able to use after you graduate.
Focusing on your bedroom only, consider this a checklist of what you might need to create an environment set up for relaxation and rest:
Comfortable, cool bedding and a spare set
One or two duvets (depending on the tog and temperature you sleep best at)
A mattress topper or protector
Pillows
A dimmable lamp
A gradual light alarm
Temporary or stick-on blinds
Storage boxes or baskets to clear away clutter
Homely decorations, such as photo frames
39. Limit distractions and interruptions
To make sure your efforts to create a restful environment don’t go to waste, encourage boundaries with your housemates around knocking or entering your room after a certain time. Many rooms in halls of residence or rented accommodation can be locked for greater peace of mind.
There are plenty of distractions you’re in control of too – namely your phone or laptop. Using blue light blockers or tools which adjust the lighting of your screen (such as f.lux) can help, but the best thing you can do is to avoid technology for at least an hour before bed, turning off notifications and enabling a ‘sleep’ mode or similar.
You may also want to consider purchasing an eye mask and ear plugs.
40. Consider breathing exercises
You can’t plan for everything. If you don’t have time to tidy your room or your housemates are being noisy, you can still try to feel calm and restful in yourself. At first, breathing exercises can feel quite difficult; it’s hard to remain still, quiet and focused. But over time, you’ll feel the benefits of deep controlled breathing. It’s perfect for relaxation and is something you can rely on even if the conditions in your environment are less than ideal.
Breathing exercises which promote sleepiness include:
4-7-8 breathing
Inhale through your nose for a count of 4, hold your breath for a count of 7, and exhale through your mouth for a count of 8.
Box breathing
Inhale through your nose for a count of 4, hold your breath for a count of 4, exhale through your mouth for a count of 4, and hold again for a count of 4. Repeat several times.
Progressive muscle relaxation
While you breathe deeply, focus on tensing and then relaxing each muscle group in your body, starting from your toes and working up to your head. Inhale while tensing, and exhale while relaxing.
Abdominal breathing
Lie down comfortably and place one hand on your chest and the other on your abdomen. Breathe in deeply through your nose so that your abdomen rises more than your chest, and exhale slowly through your mouth.
Alternate nostril breathing
Sit comfortably, close your right nostril with your thumb, and inhale deeply through your left nostril. Close your left nostril with your ring finger, and exhale through your right nostril. Then inhale through your right nostril, close it, and exhale through your left nostril. Repeat this cycle several times.
4. Useful links and further help
The context in which students are now attending university shouldn’t be overlooked. The long-term effects of higher education being impacted by a pandemic and the associated lockdowns, along with strike action from university lecturers and professors, and the challenge of a cost-of-living crisis – all of this can detract from the university experience. Add to that the timeless challenge of peer comparison and evolving social media landscape, and it’s harder than ever to just study.
But it’s important for students to know that help is available:
Talk to your friends and family
Talking to those closest to you is often a great place to start if you’re struggling with any issue. They can be a great source of support and guidance.
Register with a GP
When you move to university, it’s important to register at the local doctor’s surgery. That way you can access health services quickly and easily should you need to. If you need medical treatment or advice before you’ve signed up for the local GP, you can still contact the practice to ask for treatment. Everyone is entitled to emergency treatment for 14 days from practices which they aren’t registered to. The NHS has more information on getting medical care as a student.
Find out what additional support your university offers
All universities will have support functions – check your university’s website for wellbeing pages or look at any welcome material you were given as an undergraduate. This should give you an insight into what wellbeing services are available and how you get in touch with the right people.
Other useful information can be found on the following pages:
Discover Uni – an official source of information about higher education across the UK
https://discoveruni.gov.uk/Gov.uk: Universities and higher education
https://www.gov.uk/browse/education/universities-higher-educationNHS: How to fall asleep faster and sleep better
https://www.nhs.uk/every-mind-matters/mental-wellbeing-tips/how-to-fall-asleep-faster-and-sleep-better/Mind: How to cope with sleep problems
https://www.mind.org.uk/information-support/types-of-mental-health-problems/sleep-problems/tips-to-improve-your-sleep/Student Space: Mental health and wellbeing
https://studentspace.org.uk/wellbeing/mental-health-and-wellbeingUCAS: Mental health and wellbeing
https://www.ucas.com/money-and-student-life/student-life/mental-health-and-wellbeing/mental-health-and-wellbeing-university-support
