Sleep

Between classes, studying, work, and social life, sleep is often the first thing to get pushed aside. But sleep plays a major role in your ability to focus, manage stress, and get through the day feeling your best. For students, small changes to sleep habits can have a big impact.

The Importance of Sleep

Sleep isn’t just about feeling rested—it directly affects how you think, feel, and function day-to-day as a student at Lakehead University.

Academic performance

Sleep supports attention, focus, and concentration in lectures and while studying. It plays a key role in memory and learning, helping you retain new information and apply it during exams, assignments, and discussions.

Energy and daily functioning

Getting enough sleep helps you feel more alert and less fatigued throughout the day. It can reduce reliance on caffeine and make it easier to stay engaged in classes, work, and social activities.

Mood and stress

Sleep supports emotional regulation and resilience. When you’re well-rested, it’s easier to manage stress, respond to challenges, and avoid feeling overwhelmed, especially during busy points in the semester.

Time management and productivity

Well-rested students tend to work more efficiently and stay focused for longer periods. Sleep can help reduce procrastination and make it easier to keep up with routines, deadlines, and responsibilities.

Safety and awareness

Sleep affects reaction time, awareness, and decision-making. Getting enough rest can reduce the risk of accidents, whether you’re driving, walking in winter conditions, or navigating a busy campus.

Sleep is one of the most important and often overlooked factors in how you perform academically and feel day-to-day, especially during high-stress periods like midterms and exams.

Long-Term Impacts of Sleep Deprivation

Ongoing sleep deprivation doesn’t just affect your day-to-day functioning; it can also have cumulative effects on your long-term health and well-being.

Over time, consistently not getting enough sleep is associated with:

Mental health

  • Increased risk of anxiety and depression
  • Greater difficulty managing stress and regulating mood

Chronic disease risk

  • Higher risk of developing conditions such as type 2 diabetes and high blood pressure
  • Increased risk of cardiovascular disease

Immune function

  • Weakened immune response, making it easier to get sick and harder to recover

Cognitive health

  • Impacts on memory, attention, and long-term brain health

Metabolism and energy

  • Disruptions to hunger hormones and metabolism
  • Increased challenges with maintaining energy balance over time 

If sleep difficulties are ongoing (more than 2–3 weeks) or are impacting your daily functioning, consider making an appointment with a healthcare provider to discuss what options are available to you.

How Much Sleep Is Enough?

Most adults need somewhere between 7-9 hours of sleep per night. If you feel refreshed in the morning and awake during the day, you are probably getting enough sleep. To find out how much sleep you need, let yourself wake up without an alarm for three days in a row and average the hours. Your body cannot adapt to a lack of sleep; it will not “get used” to functioning with less sleep than you require.

How To Sleep Well
Good sleep starts with habits you can build into your daily routine. Small changes in your environment, schedule, and bedtime routines can make a big difference in how well you rest and how alert you feel the next day. The strategies below are practical ways to set yourself up for consistent, restorative sleep.

Practice a relaxing bedtime ritual. A relaxing, routine activity right before bedtime conducted away from bright lights helps separate your sleep time from activities that can cause excitement, stress or anxiety which can make it more difficult to fall asleep, get sound and deep sleep or remain asleep.

If you have trouble sleeping, avoid naps, especially in the afternoon. Power napping may help you get through the day, but if you find that you can't fall asleep at bedtime, eliminating even short catnaps may help.

Exercise daily. Vigorous exercise is best, but even light exercise is better than no activity. Exercise at any time of day, but not at the expense of your sleep.

Avoid alcohol, cigarettes, and heavy meals in the evening. Alcohol, cigarettes and caffeine can disrupt sleep. Eating big or spicy meals can cause discomfort from indigestion that can make it hard to sleep. If you can, avoid eating large meals for two to three hours before bedtime. Try a light snack 45 minutes before bed if you’re still hungry.

If you’re still having trouble sleeping, don’t hesitate to speak with your doctor or to find a sleep professional. You may also benefit from recording your sleep in a Sleep Diary to help you better evaluate common patterns or issues you may see with your sleep or sleeping habits.

The Science of Naps

While naps do not necessarily make up for inadequate or poor quality nighttime sleep, a short nap of 20-30 minutes can help to improve mood, alertness and performance.

Pros:

  • Naps can restore alertness, enhance performance, and reduce mistakes and accidents.
  • If timed correctly, naps can increase alertness in the period directly following the nap and may extend alertness a few hours later in the day.
  • Napping has psychological benefits. A nap can be a pleasant luxury, a mini-vacation. It can provide an easy way to get some relaxation and rejuvenation.

Cons:

  • Naps can leave people feeling groggy and disoriented, especially if they last too long. Post-nap impairment and disorientation are more severe and can last longer in people who are sleep deprived.
  • Napping can have a negative effect on other sleeping periods. If you have trouble sleeping at night, a nap will only amplify your problems.

Reset Sleep

Reset Sleep is a self-paced course designed to help Lakehead students, staff, and faculty build healthier sleep habits and achieve more restful nights. Through self-paced modules, you'll learn about the science of sleep, how your routines and environment affect rest, and practical strategies to improve sleep quality.

This program is adapted from Stanford University's Refresh Sleep course and has been tailored to meet the needs of our university community.

To sign up: 

  • Go to MyCourselink (https://mycourselink.lakeheadu.ca)
  • Log in using your Lakehead username and password
  • Click the "Self Registration: Academic Support and Training" near the top-right of the page
  • Select "Reset Sleep" from the list
  • Follow the steps presented until it confirms that you've been registered
  • Complete the modules
Resources

Sleepy time- Sleep Calculator

Sleep Foundation

Ted Talk: Why Do We Sleep?

How To Sleep Better

Upgrade Your Bedroom, Improve Your Sleep

Noisli - Improve Focus and Boost Productivity with Background Sounds

Apps

Sleep Cycle

Pzizz