How to Improve Sleep in College: Discover the Buffer Zone

The jury is in on sleep: We must have quality sleep—and enough of it—to perform at our best. Inadequate sleep doesn’t always or necessarily lead to full-blown illnesses like depression or anxiety, but being exhausted easily dampens mood and increases irritability, and it makes it tougher to cope with the daily frustrations of life.

During college, many students make the mistake of studying or rushing around until the moment they head to bed for sleep. Then they settle in while holding their cell phone or placing it next to them on the bedside table.

Source: Mia Nosanow

If this works for you, and you are getting a restful night’s sleep and feel refreshed the next day, then it’s not a problem. However, if you are struggling with insomnia or frequent waking, or you don’t feel rested in the morning, then adopt this important bedtime strategy: Enforce a buffer zone.

What Is a Buffer Zone?

A buffer zone means intentionally shutting down busy activities for 20 minutes to one hour before the actual time you want to go to sleep. So if you are sticking to an 11 p.m. to 7 a.m. schedule, start your buffer zone between 10 and 10:40 p.m.

A core buffer zone strategy is to use no social media or electronics during this time. Some people wind down and relax by watching a couple of episodes of a favorite TV show. If this works for you, be sure to disable any pop-ups (if you're watching on your computer) and put away your phone. Let all your friends know that you won’t be looking at texts or social media apps once your buffer time starts each night.

Here are some other useful buffer zone specifics:

• Put your computer and phone somewhere that they won’t be constantly tempting you, such as in a dedicated phone box, a drawer, or a shelf or desk that you don’t see.
• Put your phone into airplane mode or Do Not Disturb before you get into bed. (Your alarm clock will still work in airplane mode.)
• Studies show that any light in a room will interfere with sleep, so make sure all the blinking charging lights are covered. It is not just the reflected blue light from electronic devices that interferes with sleep, however. Social media and internet use can lead to two main issues: It creates a potential emotional roller coaster (unreturned texts or negative Instagram comments, anyone?). And quick focus shifting activates the brain just when it should be quieting down.

How to Make the Most of Your "Buffer Zone"

What should you do during your buffer time? Any unplugged, quiet activity can work well.

You might choose a fine-motor activity such as drawing or knitting, working on a relaxing puzzle or game, writing in a journal, listening to soft music or an audiobook, or chatting with roommates. Taking a warm shower can be a great sleep inducer.

You can also generate relaxation by gentle stretching or yoga. Gentle is the operative word; this is not the time for a workout.

Read purely for pleasure. This type of reading can be an important part of self-care—something you look forward to every day—and a helpful transition to deeper, more restful sleep. (Try to choose books with content that isn’t so alarming that it will interfere with sleep!)

Another helpful component of an effective buffer zone strategy is to write a to-do list for the next day. A to-do list serves several functions:

• It’s a ritual to let go of and end your workday.
• It provides a place to contain your worries about what work you have left to do.
• It helps you get started a bit more quickly the next day.

Its main role here is to help you let go of your stressful day so you can relax, get high-quality rest, and be ready to tackle it all again tomorrow.

When to Seek Help with Sleep

Figuring out how to improve our sleep quality is not always easy or obvious, as evidenced by the amount of time that college mental health counselors and psychiatrists across the country spend helping their students get to sleep. If you have tried the above steps on your own but continue to have trouble falling or staying asleep—or if you feel exhausted every day—it is important to see a medical professional. You could have a sleep disorder—or perhaps your poor sleep could be a symptom of a larger mental health issue.

Taking the time to get the right help for sleep issues will help with everything else in college. It’s that important.