I, like many others, love to sleep. It’s probably one of my favorite things to do in life. As a med student, you’ll notice that you have to make many sacrifices. One being the amount of sleep you attain on a nightly basis. How do you wake up the next morning and still manage to be a functional member of society you ask? Here are a few tips that allowed me to get through most of my med school career with minimal sleep, and still manage to perform well throughout the day.
First, I highly recommend a morning cup of coffee. I know many people are anti coffee these days, but one cup in the morning will wake you up and get you moving. Also, coffee is delicious, so there’s that. Next, make sure you eat breakfast. Eat something light like fruit, or yogurt to get you through to lunch time. I always find that lunch choices are the key player of weather you’ll have a productive afternoon, or just have day dreams of your pillow for the remainder of the day. I personally need to eat something light for lunch like salad with some type of protein. That will usually allow me to stay awake until five. You’ll reach that point in the day when you finally get to go home and all you can think about is taking a nap. Honestly, there’s nothing wrong with a quick nap as long as you limit yourself. Keep it to about 30 mins and you’ll be surprised at how refreshed you’ll feel upon awakening. Try to get some type of exercise in after the work day, get some studying done, eat a good dinner, and go to bed at a reasonable time. I try to at least get six to seven hours a night personally, but that definitely isn’t always the case.
Hopefully some of these tips will help you have a more productive day.
