Sleep
Hello
again to everyone!
Today
I’m going to continue my exams advice series by talking about sleep.
As
I said yesterday about eating, it can be difficult to maintain a healthy routine
anyway, let alone when you have the shadow of exam pressure looming over you. At
this time, it can be difficult to remember that sleep is just as important to
you and to your health as succeeding in your exams. Whilst I don’t want to downplay
the importance of getting the results you want, you and your personal health
should be taken care of as well, and sleep is another key element to this.
Below,
I have given you my top tips for having a healthy sleeping pattern during this
exam period
·
As tempting
as it may be, DO NOT pull all-nighters, especially the night before an exam. The
fatigue will send your brain into shutdown so you won’t pick up anything new,
and if you haven’t had enough sleep, you can’t think properly during the actual
exam itself.
·
DO NOT
replace sleep with caffeine, particularly energy drinks. Speaking from personal
experience, caffeinated drinks can send you into a dangerous cycle of not being
able to sleep properly, then waking yourself up in the morning with more
caffeine. Despite what people tell you, it does not improve concentration, does
not stimulate you into being more alert, and is to be avoided during this exam
season because it can raise anxiety levels. I gave up on caffeine nearly 18
months ago, and am now more focussed, less anxious, and sleep better and deeper
than I have in a long time. (I posted about this last year and you can find
that on this link http://stayblogitive.blogspot.com/2015/07/caffeine.html
)
·
Have a
“shut-off point”. This is perhaps the greatest pieces of advice somebody ever
gave me, and has been so useful to me. If you set a time of night to work until
and then stop, you are giving your mind and body the rest it needs, as well as
having the opportunity to relax before going to sleep.
·
It goes
without saying of course that you should try and get enough sleep each night. Official
advice varies between 8 and 12 hours, but I usually have around 7 and am fine. If
you can try and get at least seven hours per night, it will be of huge benefit
to you, and you will be better able to revise, and process information.
And
that is it for today. If you want to offer any further advice, or wish to share
your thoughts, you can do so in the comments of this post. I will also do what I
usually do and leave my social media links below if you want to get in touch
with me. My next post will be up tomorrow, so until then, don’t get too
stressed out, keep rested, keep smiling, and above all else, keep believing!
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SOCIAL MEDIA LINKS
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