“The first step is making that active decision to get more sleep,” says Alex Eichhorn, 17, a senior at Ames High School. Like many, he initially struggled with getting regular, adequate rest, but ever since making conscious changes to his lifestyle, he’s seen drastic improvements in his physical health and mental well-being. “Every waking moment of your day is colored by the quality of sleep you got the night before.” Since his first-hand experience with its benefits, Eichhorn has made it his mission to teach his peers how they can experience them too.
Though most teens are aware of the benefits of a good night’s sleep, many find it difficult to make enough time in their busy schedules to focus on rest and relaxation. Others may have the time, but end up scrolling endlessly through social media apps like Instagram or TikTok. Eichhorn has found that the best way to combat this is to sleep earlier than you think you have to. “You might stay up, thinking you still have time to get 8 hours, 7 hours, 6 hours. What you should do is to just sleep as soon as you can, without counting down the hours.”
If you truly are too busy to go to bed at a reasonable time, Eichhorn recommends reconsidering your priorities. “Sleep is probably the best way you can spend your time,” says Eichhorn, who decided to spend less time on Boy Scouts and studying in order to get better sleep. “You might want to look at the ways you spend your time and choose which are most valuable to you. Not only will you get more sleep, you’ll be able to better focus on the things that mean the most.
All of the above is helpful and important, but none of it matters in the absence of one simple, yet crucial, step.“The most important thing is to believe in yourself.” Eichhorn has found that the biggest barrier to getting sleep is believing that you can be someone who gets enough sleep. “So many of us have resigned ourselves to being second class sleep citizens. But an important step in accomplishing anything is telling yourself that you can improve. If you think you can’t, then you won’t.”