With the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, students are remaining indoors to keep safe from the virus and finding their sleep schedules paying the price from the lack of a daily schedule.
Not only have students lost the freedom to be on campus, but the ordinary day-to-day schedules that they were accustomed to changed within a couple months.
A typical day of waking up at a certain time to prepare for a day at Cal Poly Pomona has turned into staying at home to prepare for online classes to start.
Before the shift to virtual instruction, my sleep schedule kept me on track for attending class, taking time to eat, spending time with others and performing my work duties as a resident advisor at the University Village.
When I moved out of my apartment on campus and moved back to my house, I noticed a significant change in my sleep schedule.
Even though I still attend my online class meetings, I find myself losing track of time outside of attending my professors’ lectures. There are nights where I feel ready to work, but then I see the clock is already past midnight.
Students are limited in their activities leaving them restless. People who face distorted sleep schedules either receive too much sleep or too little sleep. Both pose different health risks that affect a person physically and emotionally.
For people that receive too much sleep, an urgency to fall back asleep comes to mind. Oversleeping may result in a person feeling groggy, even more tired than before, irritable and unable to focus throughout the day, according to the Sleep Foundation.
On the other hand, people who receive too little sleep struggle to relax their minds. Many reasons for lack of sleep stem from the stress of becoming infected with COVID-19, plans for the future, financial insecurity and isolation to name a few.
By sleeping less, the Sleep Foundation explained how people are more at risk for mental health conditions such as depression, anxiety disorder, bipolar disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder.
It is important to consider ways to create a routine while being in quarantine. By planning out different tasks, reaching out to friends and family and possibly looking into a new hobby, there is an opportunity to take better control of one’s sleep schedule during this stressful time of the COVID-19 pandemic.