Our Blog

Making the Most out of Bedtime

Rachel Rasmussen, Center for Cura Personalis

Sleep is one of the most important aspects of wellness for anyone, especially college students. If your student isn’t sleeping well, it can impact their ability to focus, increase stress levels, and put their immune system at risk. We also know that sleep is one of the wellness topics that Gonzaga students say they want more information about. So how can you talk to your student about sleep? Below are some ideas and talking points for how to start these conversations with your student.

Check in with them about their personal sleep hygiene habits. What are their behaviors around sleep? Here are some tips for how your student can increase their sleep quality and ability to fall asleep.

  1. Go to bed and wake up around the same time, including weekends.
  2. Get between 7-9 hours of sleep per night.
  3. Avoid caffeinated drinks within 6 hours of bedtime.
  4. Do not use their bed for activities such as eating, studying, or watching TV (if able).
  5. Keep naps to less than one hour in the afternoon.
  6. Do not exercise within two hours of bedtime.
  7. Avoid using screens (TV, phone, computer, iPad/tablet, etc.) within an hour of bedtime.
  8. Use eye masks/earplugs to help control unwanted stimuli (these are available for your student at no cost in the Center for Cura Personalis).
  9. If your student drinks, encourage them to monitor their blood alcohol level and to not drink within two hours of bedtime. Alcohol may make you fall asleep faster, but it will disrupt your sleep throughout the night, leading to a lower quality night’s sleep.

Ask them about their living environment. Sometimes, it might be factors in your student’s living environment that impact their ability to sleep well. If that’s the case, here are some suggestions for students to address these.

  1. Talk to roommate(s) if they are engaging in behaviors that disrupt their sleep.
  2. Revisit their roommate agreement from the beginning of the year if needed.
  3. Talk to neighbors or RAs if the people living around them are keeping your student from getting a good night’s rest.
  4. Talk to the RA, RD, or landlord if there are potentially fixable facilities issues that are keeping them awake (loud dumpster noises, construction, etc.). They might not be aware of the issue if no one has come forward about it!
  5. Set boundaries with friends. Although the stereotypical college lifestyle might be to stay up until all hours of the morning, their own health and well-being come first.

Encourage them to seek out resources if needed. If your student is still unable to sleep, point them towards resources on campus that can help them.

  1. Center for Cura Personalis
  2. Health and Counseling Services
  3. Residence Life
  4. Online Resources: Student Health 101 (http://readsh101.com/gonzaga.html). This is a monthly newsletter about a variety of Health and Wellness topics, including sleep.
    1. Bonus tip: there’s a parent and family edition for you, too! (http://readsh101.com/gonzaga-pp.html)

Improving sleep doesn’t have too feel overwhelming, and a few small changes can make a huge difference. Hopefully, this will give you some tools to move forward in having these conversations with your student.

Comments are closed.