Although student life is busy, getting adequate sleep should remain a top priority.
It may be tempting to sacrifice sleep for extra study time, but clinical psychologist Kara Duraccio would argue otherwise.
Focusing her research on the importance and effects of sleep, Duraccio said sleep is a vital and foundational habit.
“Pick any outcome, I truly mean it; marital satisfaction, loneliness, academic performance, physical health, mental health — and all of it is likely tied to sleep,” Duraccio said.
Consistency in sleep can have a big impact on many aspects of life.
Duraccio explained that the amount of sleep needed changes with age.
School-aged children require 9 to 11 hours, teens need 8 to 10 hours, and young adults should get 7 to 9 hours of sleep.
Because sleep needs vary for each individual, Duraccio recommends experimenting personally to determine the right amount.
“I say, go to bed, don't set an alarm. Night after night, kind of get a sense of ‘How much sleep am I actually obtaining?’ and pay attention to how you feel the next day,” Duraccio said.
While some may feel like they only need seven hours, others may feel like they need eight and a half hours.
Duraccio also warned against taking naps.
“If you do take a nap, I would just say take it, no later than the early afternoon, and make it brief — 20 to 30 minutes just to take the edge off that need to sleep,” Duraccio said. “Then ride the wave till bedtime, go to bed a little bit early if you need to, get a good night's sleep, and then just wake up the normal time and continue that cycle of waking up, going to bed at the right hour.”
She explained that taking long naps during the day can throw off a person's body clock when it's time to fall asleep at night.
For those who have difficulty falling asleep at night, Duraccio explained that it could be because their body clock is thrown off.
“So, I'll ask a question: ‘Okay, well, what happens on the weekend?' And they say, ‘Oh, I stay up till one, and I fall asleep right away.' And I say, ‘That probably tells me we're just trying to go to bed too early,’” Duraccio said.
If someone is accustomed to falling asleep late, their body may struggle when trying to sleep earlier.
However, with consistent practice, a person can improve their sleep habits.
“So, if you are ... going to bed at the same time each night, your brain begins to expect sleep at that time,” Duraccio said.
“If you're doing the same steps before bed each night, saying, 'Oh yeah, I take my shower, brush my teeth, I wash my face, put on PJs, read my scriptures, say a prayer, and go to bed — and I do that every night.' By the time I'm reading my scriptures and saying my prayer, my brain's like, 'I know what's coming, sleep's coming,' and we're more likely to fall asleep,” she said.
She also shared if a person stays awake due to worries, it can help to write them down on a piece of paper.
“We're going to write down all of our to-dos, all of our tasks, all of our what-ifs. And then we're going to do a relaxing bedtime routine, and we're going to get into bed. And when our brain starts to say, I need to think about this, you can say, 'No, I already did,'” Duraccio said.
BYU student and sleep research assistant Kevin Wu added to this idea.
“To be able to sleep, you also have to consider what you were doing before you sleep and the environment that you're falling asleep in,” Wu said.
BYU student and sleep research assistant Reagan Geary said it is important that a person shies away from turning to things such as melatonin gummies. Although it may be used occasionally, it is better to train your body to fall asleep on its own.
“It damages your body's ability to fall asleep on your own, and you become reliant on outside melatonin when your body produces melatonin,” Geary said.
She explained that the body produces enough melatonin to help a person fall asleep.
She also recommended avoiding devices 30 minutes before bed and using the bed only for sleeping.
Duraccio noted the sleep one gets is important for the safety of others.
A sleep-deprived driver poses a risk comparable to someone driving while intoxicated because their reaction time is diminished.
“Our ability to respond quickly to the stimuli around us goes down. Our decision-making becomes impaired. We might think, 'Oh, I've got enough time to make that.' But in reality, we don't have enough time. We want to be really cautious that we're being safe by getting enough sleep,” Duraccio said.
Sleep isn’t just essential for one's own health and well-being — it also helps keep others safe.