Transitioning To A Productive Schedule After Summer
Stuck in a lazy summer schedule? Here are the answers to your 3 biggest problems.
As the new school year begins, it can be difficult to get out of your summer vacation mindset. Staying up late, sleeping in, and doing no work have been regular activities for two months, so it’s hard to suddenly change your routine. But getting into a school/learning schedule quickly is not impossible, and there are many ways to fix your biggest problems: going to sleep after midnight, waking up late, and being unproductive.
When you have no set routine, it’s easy to sleep late just because you can. Yet when we have to wake up at dawn for school or work, staying up just isn’t acceptable. Although trying to suddenly go to sleep earlier is easier said than done, there are a few good habits you can practice not only to fall asleep quickly, but also to have a better sleep in general. The biggest rule to abide by is avoiding screens. There’s a high chance that you’ve heard this piece of advice before, but there’s a good reason why it’s so important. A gland in our eyes naturally creates melatonin to induce sleep under the instruction of our brain. Yet when we shine the harsh blue light emitted by mobile devices through our eyes before going to sleep, the light tricks our brain into thinking it is morning, reducing melatonin levels, and preventing quick or deep sleep. Staying off your phone for at least one hour before going to bed will significantly improve sleep. If this is too hard for some, buying blue-light glasses or turning on the night-shift modes available on some devices will convert the harsh blue light to subtle yellow light, although this is not as effective as staying off phones entirely. Another key tip to remember is to keep your bedroom dark and cool to fully signal to your brain that it is night, and your melatonin levels should rise. For busy thinkers, reading or journaling your thoughts are great ways to clear your head and relax before going to bed.
A big problem that comes with the typical summer sleep deprivation and disrupted routines is waking up too late. With commitments that have rigid time schedules such as school or work, sleeping an hour or two more in fall results in large consequences. Yet even when it’s already 2 AM and you need to wake up at 6 AM, there are a few ways you can ensure that you get out of bed at the right time. First and foremost, set more than one alarm. If one alarm stops working in the middle of the night, you can make sure that another one will still ring, and if not, you will have a louder noise waking you up. Place the alarms away from your bed; this way you will have to get out of bed to turn the sound off, and you are less likely to hit snooze. There are even some apps that make you take a picture of a certain item in order to mute the alarm. It’s also a good idea to have a family member check up on you if it’s possible. Sometimes, no matter what we do, our alarms just don’t wake us up, so it’s better if you have someone who can shake you awake as well. As for breakfast, eating energizing foods with lots of fat or protein will rev you up more than calming foods like bananas or oats.
The most important skill to have in the school/work season is productivity. But after two months of doing nothing, getting the motivation to work may be a difficult thing to do. When you begin to work, it’s efficient to take short breaks in intervals—for example, every 25 minutes, you take a 5-minute break—because you are less likely to burn out when you have another break coming soon. Setting your own deadlines and rewards before the ones established by your institution makes it easier for you to keep track of your work and see the value of finishing tasks. With positive thinking, good planning, and removal of distractions, it’s easy to be productive!
Though it may be tedious, these tips will make your transition from summer vacation routines much easier. Even more, once you adapt to your new working groove, the next summer break will come in no time!
