Sleep/Productivity/Mental Health | ILLUMINATION

An Easy Guide to How to Save Your Sleep Schedule

Fixing your sleep schedule will save your mental health and overall health. Learn how to eliminate your sleep deprivation with this easy guide.

Whether you’re a sleep-deprived high school or college student or a sleep-deprived adult working a 9–5, this easy guide will save your mental health, overall health, productivity, and it will eliminate your sleep deprivation.

I’m going to be explaining in-depth all the things that have worked for me to save my sleep schedule so you can save yours too and seize back your mental health, overall health, and productivity.

I always get at least 9 hours of sleep on weekdays as a high school student (you’d think it would be impossible) and at least 10 hours of sleep on weekends, when I typically work until 8 PM at night.

Keep in mind that I sleep for a long time despite preferring to stay up way more than sleep. I don’t hate sleeping, but I don’t love it enough to stay in bed all day. I don’t know why, but when I wake up and feel like I have just enough energy to get out of bed, I immediately get out and start my day instead of staying in and getting extra sleep that I don’t necessarily need.

My friends always ask me how I’m able to sleep enough, even on school days where we have to wake up early at 6 AM. So I decided to make this guide to fixing your sleep schedule in order to give your body and mind enough rest to be healthy and energized for the day.

Write down the sleep schedule you want to adopt

After reading this article, get a piece of paper and a pen or pencil and write down a statement that goes like this:

I am going to go to sleep at (time) tomorrow in my bedroom after I (what you do before going to bed) because (reason why you want a sleep schedule).

This statement will hold you accountable by setting a time, (ex: 8:00 PM) date, (ex: tomorrow) place, (bedroom) a task before you go to sleep, (ex: reading a book) and lastly, your reason for having a sleep schedule. The combination of these four factors will make it clear to your brain when you need to do this and why.

I’ll make this easy and simple by giving my own example of a sleep schedule I would want to do tomorrow if I were sleep-deprived and needed to save my sleep schedule ASAP.

I am going to go to sleep at 7:00 PM tomorrow in my bedroom after I brush my teeth because I’m sick and tired of feeling tired all day.

If this first method doesn’t work for you, don’t worry; there’s plenty more you can try coming up, and there isn’t one method that will work for everyone for anything in life.

Turn down the lights and turn on night shift on all your screens

This one must be obvious: having a low amount of artificial lighting in your room before you go to sleep and when you’re trying to sleep is optimal for sleep.

Yellow-colored light (or light that is a warmer color) is actually better for producing melatonin than white light, so if you’re on your laptop or phone before bed or reading a book, make sure to turn on a light that makes the room look yellow instead of the white light.

Having minimal light before you go to bed is perfect to keep you tired instead of alert and ready to fall asleep as soon as your head hits the pillow.

Turning night shift on your phone, tablet, computer, or even TV if you watch TV, and if it’s possible, will make a huge difference as most if not all the blue light will be blocked from being shown on your screen, which will allow your body to produce more melatonin instead of being confused by the blue light that’s emitted from your screen.

It’s generally recommended to automate your devices to switch to night shift mode two to three hours before you go to sleep.

What I do before I go to sleep is have my phone and laptop automatically switch to night shift at 5:00 PM because I set it to happen once and never have to think about it again now. Secondly, I read a physical book for thirty minutes to an hour before I go to bed with my light on a yellow setting, so I let my eyes relax and my body produce as much melatonin as possible.

If you want to gain a second great habit along with your healthy sleep schedule, then why not read medium stories with night shift turned on or read a physical book before you go to sleep?

Meditation before bed

Meditation is a great way to relax the body and mind through breathing exercises. Breathing through the nose and exhaling after deep breaths will slow down your blood flow and relieve any tension in the body.

I’ve tried meditation before bed, and while it has relieved tensions in my body, it’s only made me have a more difficult time relaxing my mind to stop thinking before I go to bed.

Even though it hasn’t worked perfectly for me, it might work better for other people, so I made sure to add this method to help others who struggle with sleeping.

Melatonin supplements

While this method isn’t the best to have in addition to setting your sleep schedule, it gets the job done on the days where you need some extra help falling asleep and weren’t able to do any of the other methods explained in this story.

I’ve used this method quite a bit, especially when I was trying to actually follow my schedule without skipping a single day by going to bed too late at night.

Depending on how much you weigh and how much trouble you have falling asleep, there are different melatonin supplement amounts. There are 1 mg, 5 mg, and 10 mg melatonin supplements. I ended up getting the 10 mg supplements because they were the first ones I saw, and I didn’t know at the time that they existed in 1 mg and 5 mg versions.

When I took the 10 mg melatonin supplement for the first time, it worked so well that my mind was clear of any thought other than wanting to go to sleep, and my eyelids felt heavy as I fought the drowsiness before I was able to go to sleep. It definitely did the job, because I slept for a long time and felt refreshed the next day.

It’s a good idea to take the supplement around one or two hours before you go to sleep so the effects kick in at the exact time you want to go to sleep instead of before or after that time.

Now, after using melatonin supplements for a while, my tolerance has probably built up because I don’t feel as tired as I did before when I used them for the first time. Maybe the supplements become less effective as they age. Anyway, this method definitely works, but you shouldn’t depend on supplements to fall asleep every day and should instead use natural methods if possible.

Working out in the morning

Waking up early in the morning for a nice long workout gives your body a healthy reason to feel tired before you go to bed on schedule. By using the energy in your body to work out, you’re not only preparing your body well to fall asleep later but also improving your overall health and energy by exercising.

Waking up early also makes you sleep earlier than if you were to wake up at 12 PM and attempt to go back to sleep at 8 PM or 9 PM because your body has been awake for longer at the times that it should be normally awake and can go to sleep earlier easily.

Exercise helps keep your circadian rhythm the way it should be. Additionally, exercising makes your body start producing melatonin earlier in the day, so you have enough before you go to sleep.

Summary

In a nutshell, if you want to save your sleep schedule and eliminate your sleep deprivation, you should write down the sleep schedule that you want to adopt, turn down the lights and turn on night shift on all your screens, meditate before bed, take melatonin supplements if necessary, and work out in the morning or just at some point in the day, but not before you go to bed.

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I hope this guide to saving your sleep schedule has proven to be helpful to you. I’ve used most of these methods myself and they’re what has allowed me to sleep early, keep my mental health healthy, and stay productive all day. I’d be disappointed in myself if none of them worked for you.

Thank you for reading. Please let me know what I can do to make this story better for you by writing me a comment. I’m happy to hear your suggestions so my stories can be more helpful to my readers.

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