It’s nearly impossible to get enough sleep in college. Finding your sleep personality can help.
When I was in college, sleep was low on my list of priorities. First came grades and studying, then editing my college newspaper and internship-hunting, and then making new friends, keeping in touch with old friends as well as dating, hobbies, exercising, watching TV — basically anything. Sleep was barely an afterthought.
It didn’t occur to me that sleep was worth prioritizing, let alone a basic physiological need. I romanticized pulling all-nighters or heading to class on a few hours of sleep after studying and then hanging with housemates. Being tired all the time felt like a sign that I was doing college right.
Related: Get 1 more hour of sleep and radically change your life
Now I know that getting solid sleep in college is crucial to your physical and mental health; it’s something I learned the hard way when I hit my mid-to-late twenties and discovered my awful sleep habits were affecting my quality of life, exacerbating my anxiety and causing bouts of insomnia.
Taking the time to figure out your sleep preferences and build a sleep routine around them can help, and we have tips.
But first, some harsh truths
“Sleep is the fuel for processing stress and difficult experiences,” says Sadaf Siddiqi, a licensed psychotherapist. She compares being sleep deprived to being “hangry.”
“You’re more reactive, less patient, less able to relate to others, less empathetic, less thoughtful,” she continues. “Sleep deprivation puts you in a fight-or-flight mode, which impacts everything from your test-taking skills to your relationships and ability to communicate well.”
Indeed, science shows that sleep deprivation can impair decision-making and problem-solving, reduce mental flexibility and make it harder to regulate our moods and behavior, according to Michael Breus, a clinical psychologist specializing in sleep health. It also can make people prone to (or worsen the effects of) depression and bipolar disorder, anxiety, risk-taking behavior and even suicidal thoughts. Young people, being more vulnerable than older adults to both chronic sleep deprivation and depression and anxiety, are uniquely positioned to struggle with the mental health side effects of poor sleep.
Sleep debt takes a toll the longer it goes on. Years of poor sleep will put you at higher risk for heart disease, high blood pressure, stroke, obesity and diabetes, and it can compromise your immune system, hormone levels and ability to tolerate pain. Bad sleep in adolescence can lead to long-term sleep problems that will impact you later in adulthood. (Are you convinced yet?)
Related: Why students need mental health days (and how to take one)
There’s a misconception that some people simply need — or can train themselves to need — less sleep. Technically, there is a tiny fraction of people — one in four million — with a gene mutation that allows them to healthily subsist on four to six hours a night. But chances are good that you, like the rest of us 18- to 65-year-olds, need seven to nine hours a night. Full stop.
“You might feel like you can handle not sleeping,” says Siddiqi. “But the changes taking place in your body are subtle. And it’s tough to make up for the past.”
Kick-start your improved sleep routine with this one habit
No, the answer is not buying that mattress you heard about on a podcast.
“If I had to pick one thing to ask anyone to do to get better sleep, it would be to wake up at a consistent time every day, including the weekends,” says Breus. Sticking to a routine makes it easier to fall asleep at night and wake up in the morning. It’s your quickest route to all the benefits of getting enough sleep (think: improved mood, good memory and recall, a strong immune system, a regulated appetite and more).
Obviously, that’s easier said than done when your classes start at different times every day, and exams, deadlines and parties, by their nature, require late nights. But if you’ve been feeling emotionally or physically lousy, a sleep routine could change that.
“Routines in general, but also sleep routines, help regulate our nervous systems,” says Siddiqi. “It gives your mind something to look forward to or hold onto, which is important, especially in college, when life is so unpredictable and inconsistent. It tells your mind: There’s chaos going on around me, but I am in control.”
Use your “sleep personality” to set a routine
Just like all-nighters do not make you hardcore, 9 p.m. bedtimes and 6 a.m. wake times do not make you superior. Everyone has an ideal sleep zone based on their chronotype, a genetic inclination to sleep at a certain time — aka your “sleep personality.” Turns out, being a night owl or an early bird is something that’s embedded in your cells. Your chronotype can tell you what time to wake up and go to sleep in order to sleep well and what time you function best.
Scientists have studied chronotypes since the 1970s, but Breus was the first to break types of sleepers down into four adorably titled chronotypes (named for the sleep habits of each corresponding animal): Bear, Lion, Wolf and Dolphin. (His website, The Sleep Doctor, has a handy quiz to help you determine yours.)
Here’s the gist:
The Lion (early birds) — 9 p.m. to 6 a.m.
Lions are “early to bed, early to rise” folks. Their ideal bedtime is around 9 or 10 p.m. and their wake-up call should be at 6 a.m. Before noon are their golden hours for productivity, but lions might have trouble staying awake for social events late at night.
The Wolf (night owls) — 12 a.m. to 7:30 a.m.
Wolves are the classic night owls and morning grouches, who are most energetic later in the day. Their ideal bedtime is around midnight with a 7:30 a.m. rise. They get the most out of study sessions between 5 p.m. and midnight.
The Bear (in-betweeners) — 11 p.m. to 7 a.m.
Bears are easy sleepers, whose sleep habits roughly follow the sun and don’t have issues falling asleep or sleeping through the night. A good bear schedule is from 11 p.m. to 7 a.m., and like lions, they’re most productive before noon. With bears comprising 55 percent of the population, there’s a good chance you’re one of them.
The Dolphin (anxious sleepers or insomniacs) — 11:30 p.m. to 6:30 a.m.
Dolphins are “high-strung, sensitive sleepers who are often easily disturbed by noise or light.” They’re named for the animal because dolphins are light sleepers that sleep with half their brain on at any given time (unihemispheric sleep) to stay alert for predators. They’ll have the toughest time sticking to a schedule, but their ideal sleep zone is around 11:30 p.m. to 6:30 a.m. They hit peak productivity from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Related: Laziness does not exist, according to this expert
Different sources may recommend different bedtimes, but identifying your general tendencies as a sleeper and studier can help you pin down your ideal schedule and motivate you to stick to it. For instance, if you’re a Wolf, know that you’re more likely to see results if you reserve your evenings for studying. If you’re a Lion, hit the library first thing in the morning.
Your version of your chronotype’s schedule might differ based on your commitments, needs and preferences. This sleep calculator tells you what time you should crash in order to get all five 90-minute sleep cycles you need for a full night’s rest. (Tl;dr: work back 7.5 hours from when you need to get up).
Sticking to it (really)
Once you’ve identified a target bedtime and wake-up time, maintaining it in the throes of college is a whole different matter.
Breus suggests finding an accountability partner for your sleep schedule, someone who calls you or vice versa at your wake-up time. Tell your friends and family that you’re trying to stick to your routine so they can support and encourage you. And, if you can, avoid caffeine, alcohol and cannabis as much as possible.
“No one gets their sleep routine down right away,” says Siddiqi. “You have to do trial and error. But college is an amazing time to be thinking about this, asking these questions and setting up good habits.”
Sticking to your sleep schedule also means paying attention to your pre-bedtime and morning routines. How long do you take to do your skin care, watch TV or read? Do you set aside time to journal or text friends back? And in the morning, how long do you want to lie in bed, catching up on the news or, better yet, staring at the ceiling before you put your feet on the floor? Account for these habits when you’re making your sleep schedule. If you want to be lights out at 11, and your bedtime routine takes an hour and a half, that means you have until 9:30 to study, not11. If you know you need 30 minutes to scroll in the morning before getting out of bed, set your alarm for 7:30, not 8.
Inevitably, you’re going to get thrown off your schedule. Something that can help is finding a pre-bedtime ritual that can help trigger sleepiness. “Maybe it’s taking some deep breaths, maybe it’s a playlist that gets you ready for bed,” says Siddiqi. “If you can practice that one thing right before bed, you have a higher chance of sleeping better.” If you institute this ritual during stretches of your life when you're nailing your routine, these rituals can become a reset button for getting back on track.
When all else fails, Breus has this tough love to offer: “It's really quite simple. Set an alarm, and get up every day, at the same time.”
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