unhealthy sleeping patterns

I love staying up late. I love how quiet and peaceful and dark it is. I love how there are no distractions. No buzzing phone, no annoying siblings, no nothing. Just me, sat in my room, doing, quite frankly, absolutely nothing. 
 
Over the summer holidays, this was fine. I would go to bed at some ungodly hour and wake up at midday. The world was my oyster (note the sarcasm). Of course, on some days, I did have work, but I really enjoyed this, so it wasn’t a problem. I would stay up late listening to music, writing my novel, and living my best life. 
 
But, now that school has started, things have changed. Dramatically. Initially, I had tried to stick to my summer sleeping schedule, but when I found that it hurt to keep my eyes open, I couldn’t focus on lessons, and I felt nauseated until around midday, I realized that something needed to change. Apparently, going to bed at one in the morning and waking up 5 hours later isn’t too good for your body. Who knew, right? 
 
At some point in your life, you  may have been asked whether you are an early bird or a night owl. Put simply, this question is asking if you function better in the morning or at night. Although I would usually define myself as a permanently exhausted pigeon, recently  I’ve noticed just how unhealthy my sleep pattern has become and, in this article, I will try to explain how I overcame this issue. 
 
You might think the solution is easy, just go to bed sooner!  That’s what I thought  too. I did try, I really did, but something always stopped me, whether it was just one more math question, or song, or Netflix episode, something always made me stay up later.  
 
That night, I asked my mum to take my phone from me at 10pm, and I went to sleep straight after. Now, you may think I’m done, everything’s dandy, now I sleep like a lamb. Well, not exactly, or, at all really. The following evening, I 'forgot' to remind her to take my phone and, surprise, surprise, guess who got a solid 4 hours of sleep that night. It wasn't good, and I needed this to change.
 
After going online and asking my friends for suggestions on how to make my sleeping pattern better, I came up with the following ideas: 

• On the bus from school I make a plan of everything I need to get done that evening in order to remain focused and on task, and so I can go to bed at a reasonable time. 
• I always turn my notifications off when I am revising so I  don’t  get distracted. 
• I do revision sessions with my friends over FaceTime so I stay focused and don’t go on my phone. 
• I  get  changed out of my school clothes when I get home, so I feel more relaxed and ready for bed. 
• After I eat tea, I brush my teeth straight away. I do this so that, once I'm in my room, I don't need to leave it. Additionally, it prevents me from eating food late at night, which then would keep me awake.

So, what I'm trying to say is that it is not healthy or at all beneficial to stay up late at night, regardless of how much work you think you are achieving, or even if it's just because you want to continue watching TikTok for the 5th consecutive hour. As teenagers, it is scientifically proven that we need a MINIMUM of 8 hours sleep, but to be honest I've found that I actually need around nine to function properly the following day. So, tonight, please try to get enough sleep.

I hope you have a fandabydosey day :)
- Chloë

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