Author: Julia Hallas, Doctoral Candidate
Do you ever sit down to study and find that you’re just too tired to write? If you’re anything like me, this can lead to the “I had better have a rest day” syndrome. Unfortunately these rest days can turn into a rest week, and we don’t complete PhDs by resting!
There can be many reasons for being too tired to write during the day. Insomnia, late nights, sleeping in, and too much alcohol are a few. Having difficulty getting to get to sleep, or waking up and being unable to get back to sleep, can have a massive effect on your ability to cope with a challenging day of PhD study.
Until recently I suffered terribly from exactly this problem. I solved it by restarting my exercise programme and setting regular sleep hours. After just one week, I found that 20 mins of cardio each day made me tired enough to fall asleep without too much bother and that I mostly stayed asleep during the night. I also made the decision to wake at 5 am each day, so that I could get a few hours of study in before I went to work each morning. These two changes have had a massive positive effect on my ability to study and write each day.
If you are not on top of your game each day, examine your sleeping habits and think about what might be contributing to the problem. It might be easier to fix than you think. Enjoy your sleep and happy writing.
Image www.dreamtimes.com
