Tips and tricks to help fall asleep

Early to Bed, Early to Rise

Students have trouble getting to sleep and then staying awake throughout the day due to many factors. Don’t sleep on these quality tips.

WRITTEN AND DESIGNED BY KENNEDY WADE, REPORTER

Hydrate or Diedrate

After waking up, chances are that you’re going to be dehydrated. Being dehydrated can add to your feeling of tiredness, as well as leaving you feeling lethargic for the day. Drinking a glass of water after waking up with breakfast or grabbing a bottle of water on your way to school can increase your alertness energy, with the bonus of being good for your body and brain. Continue drinking water throughout the day to keep your energy levels up. A splash of cold water on the face will also help perk you up in the morning, with the added bonus of being good for your skin.

Energizing Drinks

Caribou Coffee’s “Sea Salt Caramel” iced coffee $3.09 at Target

Tazo Chai’s “Classic Latte” chai tea $3.29 at Target

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Drink Caffeine an Hour after You Awake Grabbing a coffee first thing in the morning is a habit in which 64 percent of Americans partake, according to Reuters. But it’s a habit we should break. Drinking caffeine early in the morning interferes with your body’s cortisol production, a hormone that helps you feel awake. In the morning, your body already has high levels of cortisol, which caffeine interferes with. This can lead to your body becoming dependent on caffeine in the morning as it begins to make less and less cortisol. The more caffeine you drink, the higher your tolerance to it becomes, which makes you need more to feel awake. The best time of day to have a coffee? About an hour after you wake up, when cortisol levels naturally decrease.

You Snooze, You Lose

Silencing your alarm for an extra few minutes of sleep is tempting, but it’s not going to make you feel more rested. Your body needs time to wake up in the morning, and going back to sleep will make this process take longer. Your internal clock gets more and more confused each time the alarm goes off, because it doesn’t know if you should be awake or not. The tired and foggy feeling that comes with dipping in and out of sleep in the morning is called sleep inertia, and it can last for hours, leaving you feeling out of it all day. When your alarm goes off, the best thing you can do is get up and move around, allowing yourself to fully wake up and shake off that last bit of grogginess. Ignoring your alarm can also leave you feeling tired later into the night, making it harder to go asleep each night.

Let’s Get Physical

Right after you wake up, drag yourself out of bed and start stretching. Moving around will let your body know that it’s time to be awake, and once you get up you begin to feel more and more awake. The stretching will also help oxygen flow throughout your body, which will increase alertness. Exercising in the morning can help improve your metabolism throughout the day, as well as increase your mental energy and get rid of the brain fog you feel when you get up in the morning. Head rolls, downward dog, and the cat-cow position are said to be especially helpful, and are a quick, easy exercise that takes less than five minutes.

Eat a Full Breakfast

Even if you’re not hungry, you should still eat a full breakfast in the morning - there’s a reason why it’s called the most important meal of the day. Your body needs food for energy, and forgoing your morning meal will leave you feeling tired throughout the entire day. A quick breakfast, even if it’s on the go, will greatly boost your energy during the day. A balanced, healthy breakfast is especially helpful. Protein is the most important energy source, so eggs, nuts, or even a protein shake are great fuel for the rest of the day. Getting into the habit of eating a healthy breakfast will help you stay awake for the rest of the day.

Early to Rise

Unplug before bed

Using your phone during the day is great, but when you’re in bed, put your phone away. It might be tempting to fire off a few quick texts, but it’s easy to end up scrolling through your Instagram feed or watching Netflix until midnight. In addition to that, the light from your phone screen can leave you feeling more awake. Instead, shut your phone off, turn on do not disturb mode, or leave it charging somewhere else in the room to get rid of the urge to check your phone entirely. Save the binge watching for another day and focus on getting some shut-eye.

Don’t watch the clock

If you’re trying to go to sleep on time, don’t watch the clock. Seeing the hours go by only makes you more anxious over the amount of rest you’re getting, making it even harder to get to sleep. After setting your alarm, turn it away from you so that you can’t see the time. Have you ever noticed how sometimes you’ll wake up before your alarm goes off? That’s because your brain has gotten used to waking up at this time. Checking the clock can make your brain think you need to be awake later, and can lead to you waking up several times during the night, or just not going to sleep. As much as you might want to know how much longer you have until the morning, it’s not worth losing a night of sleep over.

It’s Aromatherapeutic

Aromatherapy, specifically with lavender essential oil, is proven to help increase the quality of sleep you get. Splurge on an essential oil diffuser from Aromasense or Innagear, light some incense or candles, or even dilute it and put it on your skin to relieve anxiety and make you more tired. If lavender really isn’t your forte, try ylangylang (a more fruity scent), or Vetiver (more earthy). They might not knock you out right away, but at the very least they’re calming and will help put you to sleep just a little bit faster.

Say No to Naps

This tip is pretty self explanatory, but easier said then done. Sometimes, when you get home, the only thing you want to do is nap, and that's okay! In moderation, of course. Short 10-20 minute power naps can actually be beneficial and leave you feeling refreshed, and have no impact on your sleep schedule. However, naps that last over an hour will leave you feeling groggy and worse than before, with the unfortunate consequence of leaving you less tired at night. This can mess up your sleep schedule, which means you have to take more naps. If you really need a quick energy boost, grab a coffee. Avoid Caffeine at Night

Whether you’re chugging Redbulls for a late night study session or just drinking a coffee with dinner, having caffeine before you go to sleep will always leave you wide awake when you should be sleeping. A high level of caffeine can drastically effect your sleep schedule, leading you to be unable to sleep when you really need to. Caffeine’s effects can last for up to four to six hours, so it’s a safe bet to avoid it during the evening. If you’re really craving a hot beverage, chamomile, valerian root and other caffeine-free herbal teas are known to help people get to sleep.

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Night time Teas

Traditional Medicinals “Nighty Night” tea $5.29 on website

Yogi “Bedtime” tea $3.99 at Target

Apps To Help You Fall Asleep

White Noise This app comes with different sounds like a fan, outdoors or ocean waves. You can also set a timer for how long you want the sound to last.

Calm Calm is a meditation app for sleep, lowering stress. It includes breathing exercises, sleep stories and relaxing music. You can choose the length of each guided meditation session.

Headspace Headspace is a meditation app that has categories for managing anxiety, sleep, focus and many more. There are multiple sessions in each pack that you can choose the length for.

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FRESHMEN FIRSTS

The class of 2022 jumped into the new school year with the Freshmen Mixer, Beanie Week and Spirit Week.

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1. We Love Our Freshmen: After receiving their beanies, freshmen Katie Gromowsky and Lauren Ellwanger watch the other freshmen receive theirs. "It was a very fun, interesting week for sure," Gromoswsky said. (Photo by Molly Conway) 2. Boys Boys Boys: Freshmen Mia Eakins, Olivia Angles and Kate Accardo dressed as boys for Notre Dame de Sion school for boys day during Spirit Week Monday Sept. 17. 3. Mixin’ It Up: St. Teresa’s Academy freshman Rebecca Hoff and freshmen Emily Joyce and Elizabeth Nordhus dance together at the Freshmen Mixer. "It was a great way to get to know other freshmen at STA and Rockhurst," Joyce said. (Photo by Grace Parrott) 4. Shark Week: Freshman Carmen Phillips wears her beanie during passing period. "I thought it was really fun and comfortable to wear," Phillips said. (Photo by Paula Sweeny) 5. Dancing Queens: Freshmen Grace Power and Emma Titus dance during the Freshmen Mixer Aug. 25. "It was nice to have something with the other freshmen at the beginning of the year to get to know everyone," Titus said. (Photo by Grace Parrott)