World Sleep Day Special
As human beings, we require a routine and balance in waking and sleeping hours to function each day. Getting a good night's sleep is essential for re-energising a person for the day ahead. Hence, it is important to learn more about the need for sleep.
World Sleep Day is observed on the Friday before the Spring equinox in March. It aims to bring awareness to the importance of sleep and various related disorders. In 2024, World Sleep Day is observed on 15 March. The first World Sleep Day was held on 14 March 2008.
‘Sleep is a necessity, not a luxury’
Several studies have shown that there is a negative impact on the body due to sleep deprivation. Lack of appropriate sleep can affect a person’s work, eating habits and overall health and well-being.
Getting an appropriate length of sleep of up to 7 hours can benefit a person in various ways:
Sleep can help maintain body weight. Shorter lengths of sleep can increase weight or increase the risk of obesity.
It can affect cognition, concentration and productivity.
Sleep helps enhance athletic abilities as it affects motor skills, reaction time and endurance skills as well.
Quality of sleep has a significant impact on mood and emotional well-being in an individual.
Often, students don’t give enough importance to sleep. During examinations, students stay up late to study and put off sleep as long as they can. However, this is not advisable.
As sleep affects cognition and memory, not sleeping enough can negatively impact their performance in examination as well as make them susceptible to fatigue and illness. As memorisation provides an exercise to the brain, a balance between sleep and studying needs to be maintained for an effective performance.
How to regulate your sleep better for better health and academic performance?
Learn to regulate one’s sleep cycle by sleeping and waking up at the same time each day.
Utilise one’s bed only for sleep. Designate a different location for working or studying while at home. Over time this will help the brain associate sleep with the bed and not work or studying.
Maintain your sleep cycle through the weekend.
Before bed, create a routine to wind down with activities such as – reading a book, switching off the phone, journaling or writing.
Limit daytime nap times as it would affect your sleep in the night.
Exercising can help boost energy throughout the day and get the body ready for bed at night.
Teacher and Sleep
Teachers, similar to students, should also make an effort to get an ample amount of sleep to stay healthy and fresh. In between classroom preparations, examinations and evaluations, teachers too miss out on their much-required sleep. They too can try to regulate their sleep, follow a proper bedtime routine and get the sleep that is required to rejuvenate them.