In conclusion, sleep is good. So, that takes us back to the starting questions of how well and how much should one be sleeping, and how should one sleep at all. Here comes the crème de la crème of the entire series of writings on sleep – our tips to you on how, how well, and how much to sleep.
Avoid caffeine, alcohol, and nicotine.
As Doctor Kim already said in the interview, it is not advisable to take alcohol before going to bed. The same is true caffeine and nicotine. With a number of caffeinated drink-lovers and smokers on campus, it comes as no surprise to see the same people sometimes complaining about sleep.
While caffeine may be good as a “kick” in the early morning for 9 a.m. lectures, it is important to note that a simple blocking of sleep-inducing chemicals in the brain cannot replace sleep itself. In addition, caffeine tends to persist in the human body; its half-life is about six hours, so drinking it anytime in the afternoon might just leave the drinker’s eyes open well into the night. In short, caffeine can work as a sleep suppressant but not eliminate sleepiness totally.
Let your room give you a helping hand.
If pills, nightcaps, or classical music do not help, maybe it is time to look around; while turning the room into a sleep-inducing environment may be a difficult task for most KAIST community members living in dormitories, or sometimes even laboratories, it guarantees a direct route to falling asleep easier and more smoothly. Not only does the room have to be quiet and dark, but the room should also get rid of any noise-making gadgets or devices. That includes telling your roommate to stop frantically clicking on the mouse.
Nap or no nap
Again, Doctor Kim would recommend to not take a nap and instead, save the sleep drive for the night’s main dish (remember the analogy between eating and sleeping). However, in the case that an irrevocable, irresistible, and immense tsunami of sleepiness emerges overwhelmingly, be wise enough to take a short, less-than-half-hour nap as early as possible. The earlier the nap is, the better the night’s sleep.
You and your biological clock
Thinking of sleepiness as parallel to hunger can reveal one more fact; one cannot just sleep because one feels like it. In other words, the body knows when to sleep and when to stay awake based on the person’s daily routine. But what if you do not have a routine in the first place? Then comes the problem of mismatching clocks. Sleeping two hours today and eight hours tomorrow will do you no more good than does eating six meals today and starving tomorrow. You could say sleep balance works like grade distribution in that it is not the average that matters: it is the standard deviation – the less the standard deviation, the better the body sleeps.
Wan Ju Kang
soarhigh@kaist.ac.kr