Life Coaches Central: Where Coaching Insiders Blog About Real Issues

On average, American's sleep less than seven hours a night. I think it's even less if you're a college student. You've heard it before-- college student up all night, studying late, gets no sleep. That is the story of my life. I usually get home at around 7 from school or work and wind up spending the rest of my night doing homework. For the most part I'm up till around 1 a.m. I try to get at least 7 hours of sleep a night because without that much I can't function the next day. But sometimes I get less than 7 hours and not only do I suffer from it, but the people around me do as well because lack of sleep makes me grumpy.

But not only do I go to sleep too late but I'm always waking up in the middle of the night. Either it's because I drank coffee before bed or I have too much on my mind and I'm not relaxed. Also, I use my bed for other things besides sleeping, like reading a book or doing work on my laptop-- not good. I read these tips for a better night's sleep and found that I was doing a lot of the things people should avoid when trying to get a good amount of sleep. I'm always scrunching up my pillow and folding it under my head to adjust it perfectly, which causes me to toss and turn all night long. It's a very frustrating habit. Another bad habit I have is reminding myself how late it is. So what I did was make a task list to improve my sleeping habits and transform my bedroom so that I could get the right amount of sleep I need, so I won't be a zombie the next day.

What I found most interesting after completing this task list was that the temperature of my room was a factor contributing to my restlessness. The hotter, your room the worse it is to sleep. Once I opened my window a crack, I was sleeping much better. I'm hoping this new sleep regimen will stick with me through the rest of the year although I can't promise myself I won't be overloading on caffeine when finals come up.