Wellness in Academics (Part 1) by Alexia Nutting

Wellness in Academics (Part I)                 SLEEP

Recently, I have begun delving into the nuanced world of wellness. This came about through my old boarding school in Boston, and arguably out of necessity. I am aware that health is one of the most transcendent subjects of research and discussion, however, within this technological revolution, we see a new way of interacting with people and ourselves, and thus are forced to reevaluate and redefine what wellness means. I recently (as one does seemignnly too many times throughout adolescence) have found myself questioning why I do the things I do and why I care about the things I care about.

Why Wellness?

Like I assume many projects to embark on, I would derive my curiosity in wellness as propelled by three facets:

On one hand, I want to start dissecting what modern wellness is for selfish reasons. I want to be well. I want to feel like I am doing the right things for myself.

I want to understand wellness for the people around me; for the ability to help the people i care about. Lastly, I feel like understanding wellness is tied directly to understanding culture, and how communities work.

Topic I- What your body can tell you about your Wellness

You are not getting enough sleep

Over this past long weekend, I contracted what my family doctor determined to be the flu. He said there was nothing I could really do, other than relax, and wait out the week long recovery process. I spent a day sleeping, only waking up to take the cold medicine, of which the dose was perhaps exaggerated in my attempts to beet this pressing deadline of health.

The Next Day, to my amusement, I felt perfectly fine. I was very confused. My friends were confused. The side of me who liked nagging for ice cream was confused. I decided to look into the situation. How had i gotten sick? And Why was I better the next day? I remembered thursday, I had gotten home from school late and rushed to a photo exhibit. I knew my night would be long so I had an impromptu cocktail of caffeine pills and diet coke. I finally got to sleep around five am. The next day, I had a series of appointments and proceeded with an evening not to far off from the previous one. This of course, landed me in what felt like a devastating illness. This general itinerary, was not uncommon to me, so I was able to rationalize why my weekend turned out how it did. My body had become exhausted. And not in the sense of, I haven't had my cup of coffee yet, or I don't feel like doing my work ‘exhausted’. Like, physically and mentally exhausted. My immune system had become so weak from the lack of sleep i had been getting, that it gave up, only to be cleared by a healthy amount of shut eye. On one hand, due to the long weekend, I could afford to spend one day catching up on sleep. The issue becomes however, that It can’t be healthy to have a meek sleep schedule with the hope that you will be able to refuel once you burn out. In an ideal scenario however, I should be able to replace this full day of sleeping with… well something healthier.

So, how does sleep affect our health and how can we catch more Zs?

Before I begin, I would like to note that i understand that the search for more sleeping time is common within an urban context, especially when we look at teens. I, being someone who generally shoots for more than six hours, never understood where I fell on the spectrum of sleeping hours.

Why is sleep important?

Perhaps the most immediate consequence of little sleep within an academic context is a shortened attention span, lack of concentration, and alertness. Not only are processes slower, but within the context of a semi-pressured environment like school, your body puts itself under stress in order to function. And as I hope is generally understood… this type of stress is not good for your body. Your body scrambles to find energy, finding comfort in foods that are high in sugar or caffeine. Once again our bodies are put under a lot of stress. Caffeine and sugar can work as a short term solution to function under sleep deprivation, but it is by no means a stable remedy.

How to get better sleep

• Avoid taking naps. Although the idea of ‘power naps’- a 20-60 minute nap at the peak of tiredness- can be seen as a good way for your body to catch a breath before continuing on in the day, long and deep naps have a tendency to throw your sleep schedule off very quickly. This, due to the fact that during the weekdays, students and teachers have a pretty set schedule, is better to avoid before the weekend due to the difficulty that will be reseting a sleep schedule around a bust daily one.
• Try to avoid caffeine after noon.
• Don't do work in bed, keep it at your desk. Reserve your bed for sleeping so your mind associates it with sleep and not stress.
• Try to get regular exercise. Being out of an exercise routine can tend to result in our bodies not being physically tired before bed. (don’t however, exercise 3 hours before bed)
• Avoid big dinners or late night meals- your body will have to digest the food while you sleep.
• Try to keep to your sleep schedule throughout the weekend. Meaning, it's great to catch up on some lost hours over the weekend, but whenever possible, try to stay within a range of a few hours from your weekly schedule, as to not unbalance the cycle.

How do we recover from sleep deprivation according to Dr. Lawrence J. Epstein of Harvard-affiliated Sleep Health Centers:

• “Settle short-term debt. If you missed 10 hours of sleep over the course of a week, add three to four extra sleep hours on the weekend and an extra hour or two per night the following week until you have repaid the debt fully.
• Address a long-term debt. If you've shorted yourself on sleep for decades, you won't be required to put in a Rip Van Winkle–like effort to repay the hours of missed slumber. Nonetheless, it could take a few weeks to recoup your losses. Plan a vacation with a light schedule and few obligations — not a whirlwind tour of the museums of Europe or a daughter's wedding. Then, turn off the alarm clock and just sleep every night until you awake naturally. At the beginning, you may be sleeping 12 hours or more a night; by the end, you'll be getting about the amount you regularly need to awake refreshed.
• Avoid backsliding into a new debt cycle. Once you've determined how much sleep you really need, factor it into your daily schedule. Try to go to bed and get up at the same time every day — at the very least, on weekdays. If need be, use weekends to make up for lost sleep. And don't forget to follow the tried and true rules of sleep hygiene described above, in "Sound advice for sleeping soundly."”

Publications, Harvard Health. “Repaying Your Sleep Debt.” Harvard Health, www.health.harvard.edu/womens-health/repaying-your-sleep-debt.