We sleep for around a third of our lives. Being sleep deprived at university can have a significant impact on essential aspects of life, such as academic and athletic performance, as well as physical and mental health. That’s why it is crucial to get a good night’s sleep at uni. Sleep can often take a back seat during university years, whether it’s due to part-time work hours on top of a busy class schedule or pulling all-nighters to cram for an exam.
Students should receive the recommended amount of sleep each night to help them concentrate better, stay focused, and perform better in class. As a student, you will need seven or more hours of regular, high-quality sleep per night. For optimal performance, you have to recharge your brain on a regular basis and allow your academic talent to shine. If you haven’t gotten a good night’s sleep at Uni, making time in the day, whether it’s 10 minutes during lunch or between classes, to ignore technology and just relax will help your body feel rested even if you haven’t slept. On the other hand, sleeping for the recommended amount of time is not the sole factor. It’s also crucial to get consistent, high-quality sleep so that you wake up feeling rested.
Here are 15 benefits of a good night's sleep at uni:
Decrease tension and lift your spirits
You’ve probably noticed how sleep affects your mood. You may be more irritable, short-tempered, and vulnerable to stress after a sleepless night. When you get enough sleep, your mood usually returns to normal.
Sleep not only affects mood and vice versa. Anxiety causes agitation and arousal, making it difficult to sleep. Stress also has an impact on sleep by keeping the body awake and alert. People who are constantly stressed tend to have sleep issues.
Allow Your Memory to Function
You’ve probably noticed that when you sleep poorly, your mind becomes foggy. One of the most common short-term effects of sleep deprivation is mild memory loss.
Regular sleep deprivation can cause memory problems that interfere with the everyday task performance required on a daily basis.
This occurs because your brain stays busy organising and matching memories while you sleep, a process known as memory consolidation. In other words, good sleep does not “improve” memory; it is required for it to function at all.
Think more clearly and perform better in Uni
Lack of sleep doesn’t help with your studying. Actually, getting more rest during finals week can help you get better marks. Staying up late can actually lower your scores. Having a good night’s sleep at uni might be the solution to getting better exam results. That’s obviously easier said than done. Shortening your sleep duration also shortens your REM sleep. The period of sleep during which we dream the most is known as REM, during which time our brains also process and memorise new information. We cannot function cognitively without REM sleep.
As a direct result of not getting enough REM, you may experience:
- Decreased attention
- Impaired memory
- Slowed processing
- Worsened sequential thinking
- Reduced creativity
- Poor decision-making
- Aggression
- Irritability and mood swings
- Hyperactivity
- Depression and Anxiety
Make your learning easier
Sleep is essential for students because it allows your brain to better process new experiences and knowledge. At the end of the day, our brain’s connections are tense, “saturated” with all of the conversations, images, and facts we gathered while awake. Sleep consolidates all of these memories and prepares your brain for new ones the next day. That is why cramming with no sleep the night before an exam rarely works.
In fact, the most significant benefits of sleeping early for students emerge when your sleep schedule is not disrupted simply because it is exam season.
Stay Focused
With less sleep, both in quantity and quality, your concentration levels gradually decline. Most of us have difficulty concentrating after a bad night’s sleep. Sleep deprivation and fatigue impair judgement, problem-solving abilities, and creativity.
However, getting a good night’s sleep at uni will help you be more focused, productive, and inspired. Among the many well-known advantages of sleep, your speech abilities often improve if you get enough rest.
Improve Your Decision-Making
When trying to solve a problem, we’ve all said at some point that we’ll “sleep on it.” According to some studies, when we have a problem and go to sleep, our brain continues to look for a solution. Even if you don’t wake up with an answer, your brain is ready to assess the situation again. Making better decisions is one of the top ten health benefits of sleep.
Improve your motivation
In addition to robbing you of energy and time for muscle repair, a lack of sleep ruins your motivation. If you don’t get enough sleep, everything will become a more complicated mental and physical challenge, and your reaction times will slow.
Proper rest, on the other hand, prepares you for your best performance and the highest level of creativity, yet again emphasising the restorative benefits of a good night’s sleep at uni.
Get along better with others
A healthy sleep schedule is crucial for better mental health. When one has a bad night’s sleep or doesn’t get enough sleep, they are frequently grouchy, depressed, lethargic, and grumpy all day. Long-term sleep deprivation has also been conclusively related to major psychological illnesses like anxiety and depression. In order to maintain good relationships with your friends and colleagues at Uni, you have to allow yourself to rest and recharge.
Make wise judgments and prevent injuries
Not getting enough sleep can be harmful to you and the well-being of others. Our ability to focus on tasks, reflexes and reaction times all suffer when we are tired. Thousands of car accidents are caused by drowsy drivers each year. In addition to the increased risks of driving, a lack of sleep may increase the risk of workplace injury and errors. Overall, getting enough sleep is critical for everyone’s safety.
Boost Your Self-Confidence
If you want to learn how to be confident as a student, then studies on the relationship between mental health and sleep confirm that getting enough sleep means:
- Increased self-esteem
- Better decision-making abilities
- Increased cognitive capacity
All of this makes you more ambitious and, more importantly, more successful in your endeavours. Students who are well-rested are less impulsive, which means they are better at strategising to achieve a goal.
Maintain a healthy weight
We are less motivated to exercise and get things done when we are sleep deprived. We make poor food choices, preferring sugary or fatty foods over healthy alternatives. In other words, if you want to prevent yourself from gaining weight or even losing weight, you must get enough sleep.
Strengthen your heart
Many scientific studies show that without a good night’s sleep, proper metabolic regulation is impossible. As previously noted, the importance of REM sleep is highlighted in particular because your blood sugar drops during this stage of the sleep cycle.
Inadequate REM sleep can lead to insulin intolerance bringing you closer to diabetes and other metabolic diseases. Diet and exercise, for example, may reduce the risk of heart disease both directly and indirectly by promoting better sleep. This, in turn, may result in a more positive outlook, more energy and boosted health- the best kind of feedback loop.
Increase your athletic performance
When we sleep more, we improve our mental and athletic abilities. Restorative sleep shapes the processes involved in conditioning your workout. For example, quality sleep improves your:
- Endurance
- Coordination
- Speed
- Muscle strength
- Heart rate
Ample sleep improves fine motor skills, reaction time, muscular power, muscular endurance, and problem-solving abilities. Furthermore, sleep deprivation may increase your risk of injury and decrease your motivation to exercise. So getting a good night’s sleep at uni could be precisely what you need to boost your performance.
Look better
You’ve probably heard the expression “beauty sleep.” Well, the expression is true because you get “beauty sleep” every time you sleep. Sleep is the ultimate anti-ageing treatment: During sleep, we produce collagen, which keeps our skin from sagging. During sleep, skin cells repair themselves. Sleep aids the body’s elimination of metabolic waste, thereby improving our complexion. Sleeping traps moisture in our skin, preserving its youth. Aside from that, sleeping helps us keep our skin looking healthy and attractive. Along with feeling good, one of the best immediate benefits of sleep is looking good.
Become less prone to illness
The improvement of immune systems is significantly influenced by sleep. As a result, students who experience considerable sleep deprivation are more prone to get sick frequently because their immune systems are compromised. The body creates cytokines, which are proteins that lessen stress and help ward off recurring illnesses. Students who lack sleep frequently produce fewer cytokines and antibodies, which increases their susceptibility to illnesses. Even when your body has a cold or the flu, poor sleeping habits delay healing.
