Sleep or Suffer

At the end of a long day, after finishing all of our work, most of us probably look forward to one thing: sleep. However, how many of us go to bed and check our Instagram and put in about a thousand scrolls on Tiktok before finally feeling sleepy enough to finally end our day. What do you know, the next morning rolls around and you’re just as tired as before you went to sleep the day before, coming off of 6 hours of sleep. With the amount of classmates that we all see walking around with Celciuses and Monsters, I think it's safe to assume that MANY of us deal with the issue of sleep deprivation. 

At first, sleeping late may not seem like a big deal. Some of us just “work better at night”... right? According to Psychology Today, productivity and creativity drop significantly when we cut into our sleep time in order to do work. Sleeping late doesn’t just take away from our rest time, it decreases the quality of our work and stops us from doing work to the best of our capabilities. What’s even more to consider is the fact that undermining the amount of sleep we need also cuts into our performance for the next day. In a study by Two Minute Medicine, a group of partially sleep deprived athletes recorded much less time until exhaustion when compared to the normal sleep control group of athletes. 

Aside from just the decrease in performance from sleep deprivation, not going to bed on time could also lead to issues with anxiety and mental health as a whole. The Psychiatry Department of Columbia University reports that irregular sleep patterns lead to more psychological distress. This is not even accounting for the time we spend on social media looking at glamourized lifestyles that make us feel worse about ourselves- in the time that we

should actually be sleeping. Some symptoms of sleep deprivation could include brain fog, increased anxiety, and reduced interest from activities that you normally enjoy. Knowing all of these effects of not getting enough sleep, you start to think… is it really worth it? 

Some ways to make this an easier task for yourself, is to decide not to check any socials after a certain time. If you normally go to sleep around 11:30, then promise yourself not to check any social media after 10:30. Furthermore, you can expedite your sleeping process by moving your phone outside of your room, or out of your reach. Out of sight, out of mind. At the end of the day, the only person who is going to stop you from using your phone before bed is yourself. You have to want to have a better day tomorrow- that's the only thing that will stop you from cutting into your sleep time. 

One thing that should also be acknowledged is sleep deprivation because of schoolwork. School work feels inevitable, and even if some of us do not use our phones excessively before bed, we still find ourselves sleeping after midnight every day. Although the pressure of school, along with your extracurriculars does come at the cost of sleep, it is important to realize the effect that your actions may have throughout the day. Not everyday has to be the same. Instead of falling into a habit of sleeping late every single day, try sleeping earlier on days where the load is lighter in order to catch up on your sleep. 

The next time you think about rewarding your long day with an hour's worth of brain numbing phone usage, think about how much more impact you could have on your day by just deciding to head straight to bed.

Sources:

2 Minute Medicine 

Psychology Today 

Columbia Psychiatry

Art by Aayushi S