We shower, brush our teeth, set our alarms, read before bed, browse social media to relax before drifting to sleep. We go to bed at an appropriate time, hoping we’ll achieve that golden eight hours of sleep, which we’ve been told time and time again will allow us to be productive the following day. But why do we even sleep and how much sleep do we actually need?
We’ve all been there — that moment when our eyes droop during lecture, or we go for our third cup of coffee to make it through afternoon clinic. Through dental school, I’ve gone through various phases of trying to stay awake, but at the start of my fourth year, ahead of NBDE Part 2 and ADEX, I needed to refresh my tactics. I polled my friends on how they coped with exhaustion and found two decidedly different camps: one entirely dependent on caffeine and the other who swear by the power of naps. I decided to investigate both in hopes of nailing down the perfect routine.
Getting enough sleep is arguably one of the most challenging aspects of dental school. Between attending classes and studying for tests, working on your lab skills and seeing patients, it can be tough to find enough hours in the day to get ample sleep. While we’re all familiar with the many platitudes regarding ideal sleep schedules and the benefits of getting enough rest, it can be challenging to actually incorporate those guidelines into your everyday schedule. However, there’s no question that getting restful sleep is important.
It’s Monday morning. You roll over in bed and hear the alarm clock going off. At 6 a.m., there is nothing you’d rather do more than hit the snooze button and go back to sleep. We all know how this story ends because we all have likely been there: You keep hitting “snooze” and then end up running late. Starting the mornings off on the wrong foot can affect your productivity all day. Here are six ways to help you get out of bed on time.
Getting enough sleep is arguably one of the most challenging aspects of dental school. Between attending classes and studying for tests, working on your lab skills and seeing patients, it can be tough to find enough hours in the day to get ample sleep. While we’re all familiar with the many platitudes regarding ideal sleep schedules and the benefits of getting enough rest, it can be challenging to actually incorporate those guidelines into your everyday schedules. However, there’s no question that getting restful sleep is important. A 2002 study published in Neuron found that a full night’s worth of sleep is correlated with a 20% improvement in motor speed without loss of accuracy. Fortunately, given the many mobile technological advances available today, there are now numerous apps designed to help you achieve this.
Forty percent of adults over 40 snore – half of them every night; and while for most of these individuals snoring may be nothing more than a social inconvenience, for more than 18 million Americans it may be a symptom of Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA), a potentially life-threatening condition.
