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Less Sleep – More Energy? Here’s What You Need to Pay Attention To
Are you swamped with makeup week and your first exams, and you find yourself way behind? Are you also pushing hard with a student job so that you can start 2023 with a full bank account? Whatever the goal, it's certain that your sleep often suffers due to your packed schedule. However, after a while, less sleep is not very beneficial as you'll become tired and exhausted...
...and your performance will suffer. So, fact: sleeping little is not fun. However, there are a few things you can do to make less sleep more restorative!
Sleep 101 – How is Your Sleep Structured?
To understand how to feel more rested with less sleep, you need to understand how sleep is structured. Generally, there are four stages identified during examination: dozing, light sleep, deep sleep, and REM phase. In your case, deep sleep is crucial, as it's when your brain regenerates most effectively, when the things you learned that day are etched into your memory, and overall, it's when you recharge. So, being in deep sleep is quite cool, the question is how to spend most of the night in this phase – even if you're getting less sleep that day. Here are a few simple tips we've gathered for you to help achieve deep sleep.
Preparations – The Alpha of Deep, Less Sleep
More balanced, yet less sleep starts with preparations. A hot bath, comfortable pajamas, and a good airing of your bedroom can bring you closer to restorative deep sleep. You might not like this, but it’s emphatically true: if you’re exposed to a lot of blue light before sleep (meaning: lots of time on laptops, phones), it will reflect on your sleep quality. The hormone responsible for sleepiness (melatonin) starts to produce more effectively in the dark. Therefore, if you’re flipping through slides right up until the moment of sleep, even less sleep will not be spent in the deep sleep phase. On the contrary: even the little time spent in bed will be superficial and you’ll feel more tired day by day. A #nightroutine isn’t just a catchy Insta or TikTok trend: an evening routine geared towards sleep truly makes you more rested and productive the next day, even if you have less time to sleep that night. So, if you have to save time on something, let it be your screentime, not your bedtime routine!
If Less Sleep, Then a Lighter Dinner
Everyone knows the saying "eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince, and dinner like a pauper" when it comes to eating. But it’s a fact that this isn’t just an old saying, and it can even help your sleep! Think about it: if you gobble down a burger or a couple of pizza slices 2-3 hours before bed during a night study session, your stomach will still be busy digesting when you go to bed. So, during less sleep, the focus won’t be on your brain's regeneration. Thus, during demanding periods, try to keep dinner lighter so you can more easily and relaxedly sink into the deep sleep phase.
If You’re Stressed, Less Sleep is a No-Go!
You know the epic boss fights in video games? Well, your body does something similar during sleep for cell renewal when you're going through a stressful period. The stress hormone, instead of building, rather breaks down the body, so it demands much more effort from your body. So, if you choose less sleep during a stressful period, it’s not a good strategy. If longer sleep isn’t an option, then you should pay more attention to stress management. Experiment with different breathing techniques (like box breathing), exercise more (don't overthink it, 20 minutes of stretching is fine), or simply let go of the performance pressure a bit. Nothing is worth sacrificing your mental hygiene over!
Although less sleep can be more restorative, we still recommend not cutting back on the time you spend in bed.
And if you feel like exams are over and work isn’t encroaching on your sleep, check out our current offers!
