How to Help Your Freshman Prioritize Sleep
The National Sleep Foundation recommends that young adults from ages 18 to 25 sleep 7 to 9 hours each night. To your freshman this recommendation may seem like a joke.
Even if your constantly exhausted freshman claims, “I’m just not a morning person” or “I’m a night person,” getting good sleep is possible. The bad news is that college life can make prioritizing, managing, and maintaining a healthy sleep schedule difficult. The good news is that you can help college parent!
Help your freshman prioritize her sleep by encouraging her to make smart choices in these 3 areas!
Encourage a healthy school-life balance.
In an effort to encourage earning good grades, a college parent can easily communicate an unhealthy work-life balance—or in this case school-life balance. Although a good GPA is critical in some fields, an exceptional GPA is not as important as a healthy mind and body.
Your college freshman is establishing patterns for her adult life while in her first year of college. The ability to balance her part-time job, academics, social life, and health is being formed right now.
Your freshman needs to understand that building relationships, spending time with peers, and developing a network are important parts of her college education too. “Book” skills can only take her so far.
For some freshmen, the struggle is the opposite extreme—socializing to the neglect of academics. If your freshman is overly social, please (oh please) don’t scold her for liking being with people. This is a natural ability that can take her far. Rather, encourage her to designate enough time to her studies.
If your freshman is not overly social and maybe feeling very isolated and lonely, encourage her to get out more. Providing a small donation (i.e. $10) to help her socialize may remove the excuse of not having enough money to spend time with friends. She needs to hear and find for herself that having a social outlet is part of the college experience.
Encourage good time-management skills.
When I first considered starting this blog, I interviewed several soon-to-be or current college parents. I asked them what their biggest concerns were about their freshman adjusting to college.
The #1 concern I heard in almost every interview was time management. They were concerned about their soon-to-be college freshmen’s time management skills. This concern is entirely legitimate and arguably one of the key reasons freshmen do not get more sleep.
Poor time management skills impact all areas of your freshman’s life but especially her sleep. If your freshman does not manage her time well throughout the day, she likely falls into the bad habit of staying up until the early hours of the morning on a regular basis.
You know providing constant reminders (that may come across as nagging) is not the best way to help. So how can you help?
While providing suggestions may work for some college parents, likely asking questions will get you further. Below are some suggestions to get you started:
Do you know why you’re feeling so tired?
Have you changed any habits in the time before going to bed?
Are you taking long naps during the day?
How often are you able to exercise? (If response is yes...) Do you think this makes getting to bed more difficult?
Why do you think you’re having such a hard time getting to bed earlier?
Letting your freshman come to the realization that time management is the problem on her own will likely make more of an impact than telling her what to do. By letting your freshman take ownership of the problem, you are also helping her to see that she has control over the problem. She can make the changes and form better habits.
Encourage saying “no.”
In an effort to help a child be successful and exceptional, some college parents pressure their college freshmen to spread themselves too thin. This habit of being busy can lead to some unpleasant long-term consequences, like mental health issues.
Encourage your freshman to make healthy choices for her. Your freshman may honestly be currently incapable of handling more than a few responsibilities, and that is completely fine.
Knowing her own boundaries is important. As an adult, your freshman will need to establish and maintain boundaries when her boss is overly demanding or her coworkers ask too much of her. Learning to accept and function within her own limitations is incredibly important, so help her learn this while in college.
Saying “no” is hard for the type-A, overachiever freshman, so if this is your child be aware. Encourage her to take care of her health, guarding her sleep. If your freshman practices good time management and still has to stay up until the early hours of the morning (on a regular basis), she likely is overcommitted.
Saying “no” is also hard for the overly empathetic or people-pleasing freshman. This freshman doesn’t want to let anybody down and may bend over backward to help another when she really needs to say “I can’t help you tonight.”
As a parent, your advice might not go over well if it was not requested. Rather than telling her what to do, consider listening, asking questions, and utilizing one more important tool—praising her for setting healthy boundaries. Your words of praise can go a long way, so take notice of making good choices and instances of good character.
Ultimately, your freshman is responsible for getting good sleep. You can’t make choices for her, but you can encourage her to make wise choices. Support choices that help your freshman prioritize getting a healthy amount of sleep!
