Sleep & Learning
Prioritize Sleep Hygiene
Getting enough sleep is vital to your success as a college student. Proper sleep hygiene (the habits and practices for good sleep) can help you study more effectively, earn better grades, and maintain your physical health and wellbeing. Students who get less sleep than their bodies need typically earn lower grades than students who get a sufficient amount of sleep (Cuseo, Fecas, & Thompson, 2007).
Sleep hygiene is all about establishing healthy sleep habits to support your rest and replenishment when you go to bed. Regardless of when you go to sleep, it’s important that you’re getting 7 to 9 hours of sleep each session and that you’re sticking to a schedule of consistent bed and wake times. Sleep is imperative to the learning and memory process. Short-term memories shift to long-term stores during the last 2 hours of your sleep cycle, and waking feeling rested supports focus and concentration throughout the day (Doyle & Zakrajsek, 2019).
How to Nap Effectively
In addition to lengthier sleep, naps can support replenishment during the day. Researchers say that a 10 to 20-minute power nap can help students rejuvenate before getting back to work, whereas an hour nap helps with cognitive memory processing, positively impacting your learning (Mednick, Nakayama, & Stickgold, 2003). If time permits, a 90-minute nap involves a full cycle of sleep and can aid in creativity as well as emotional and procedural memory, both of which could benefit your class projects or papers (Mednick, Nakayama, & Stickgold, 2003). By taking naps and developing healthy sleep patterns, you can maintain better health and give your brain the rest it needs to process and function.
Visit Student Health Services to find Tips for Getting Good Sleep if you’re seeking ways to support a healthy sleep hygiene routine.