How not to ruin your sleep schedule

Whether it's finishing an assignment due two hours ago, playing one more round of Valorant while on a Discord call with your friends, or the kind of late-night bingeing that makes you hate yourself in the morning, we've all succumbed to ruining our sleep cycle at some point. The hardest part always ends up being the escape. 

Once you're accustomed to sleeping at 3 AM and waking up at 12 PM, it's impossible to break out of the vicious cycle. Hence, the best approach would be to sidestep the problem altogether.

Here's how to steer clear of disrupting your circadian clock and maintain a proper schedule. 

Don't pile up work

No one's immune to procrastinating until the deadline is within panicking distance. The only course of action then is to either finish on time or minimise tardiness as much as possible. After all, to a barely functioning, sleep-deprived brain, two hours late sounds better than twelve hours late. 

Studying the night before the test also falls under here. The marks still likely won't be much higher, as you can't remember too much on zero hours of sleep. Procrastination isn't solved with a simple "just don't do it". However, when you have a better idea of the full extent of the consequences, you can avoid them more easily.

Socialising can wait

Texting your friend well into the night is the stone that takes out two birds. Not only are you destroying your own sleep cycle, but also theirs. The effect is worsened when it's a group chat, where the stone becomes a Gatling gun on a flock. 

Butchered metaphors aside, getting all your social activity done by daytime is a good idea. Since peer pressure is a powerful force, our night owl friends might try to convince us otherwise. In those instances, you can remind them of the zombie-like state they'll end up in when they have to pull an all-nighter to fix their timetable.

Keep your screentime in check

From video games to YouTube, to bingeing whatever is trending on Netflix, staying up late to enjoy your favourite pastimes is guaranteed to be your downfall. As fun as these activities are, the terrible sleep cycle that accompanies them is not worth it. 

You can keep a daily alarm at a specified time to remind you to drop everything and get some sleep. Tracking the time spent on these hobbies also helps. When you go to your phone's settings, check your overall screen time after 12 AM and notice the "4 hours, 15 minutes" next to Instagram or YouTube. You certainly get the feeling that some things need to change. 

Try eating and drinking healthy

That second cup of coffee at night may be the difference between waking up when the sun rises and waking up when the sun sets. Many of us need something extra to get us through the day. But abusing it can lead to demolishing the regular sleep cycle, and causing sleeplessness until late at night. 

Having a poor diet can also affect our circadian rhythm. It's unfeasible to always maintain healthy habits with a restless schedule, but a conscious attempt goes a long way. 

It's impossible to incorporate every bit of advice into your routine instantly, but starting with small steps is the best way to go about it.

Rishi is failing miserably at taking his own advice. Send him the link to this very article at reeshe46321@gmail.com