If you can’t outwork them, outrest them: Sleeping 101

Written by: Shao Kai (25-U3)

Designed by: De Kuan (26-I1)

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Roger Federer is arguably the best tennis player of all time, winning an astounding 95% of his matches across every major tennis competition at his prime in 2006. His secret? Sleep. In a world where elite athletes are optimising training loads, drills, and nutrition, Federer dominated because he took rest and recovery unusually seriously. During his peak competitive years, he famously slept 11 to 12 hours a night. This has contributed to his longevity in a sport where many retire in their early 30s, competing at the peak of tennis until he was 41.

While not all of us are professional athletes, we all need enough quality sleep to perform our best in anything we set out to do. As students, sleep is doubly important. Sleep keeps us awake and concentrated during lectures, reduces our stress levels, and improves our memory and consolidation. This merely scratches the surface of the benefits of sleep, which compound over time to amplify their effects.

Yet, most of us don’t fully tap into this potential. I am guilty of falling for the traps that keep a good sleep schedule away too. Whether it’s staying up late to finish an overdue assignment or coming home late from an outing, there are countless obstacles that get in the way of consistent good sleep. In these circumstances, a good night’s sleep may be disrupted, but if we’re mindful of some principles of sleep, it doesn’t necessarily have to disrupt a good sleep schedule.

Understanding sleep

Sleep pressure and circadian rhythm are the main biological drivers of our sleep. Sleep pressure is how much your body needs sleep at a point in time. It starts accumulating the moment we wake up, and its build-up is the main reason we feel sleepy at night, having spent many hours awake. 

Meanwhile, circadian rhythm is the system that tells our body when to expect sleep and wakefulness. It is shaped by light exposure and wake-up times, and affects our sleep quality. It isn’t fixed, and shifts according to our habits.

These systems mean that taking a long nap in the afternoon or sleeping in can disrupt our sleep schedule, diminishing accumulated sleep pressure or throwing off our body clock respectively. Subsequently, these can reduce sleep quality at night, making us feel exhausted even if we sleep enough hours.

With this understanding in mind, we can guide our decisions regarding sleep more intentionally.

Wake time consistency is king

The single most important sleep habit is a consistent wake time, maintained even with a late night. It strongly anchors your circadian rhythm, which translates to a stable sleep schedule and enhances your long-term sleep health.

Even after a bad night with minimal sleep, protect your wake-up time as much as possible. In such a scenario, don’t catastrophise — we often overestimate how impaired we are from one short night. Anxiety about poor sleep often worsens how the day feels much more than sleep loss alone. Fight the temptation to sleep in, get sunlight, keep moving, and continue the day as normally as possible. Sleep pressure will naturally build and help you sleep better (and earlier, if you let it) the following night. Trust that feeling tired for a day is a worthwhile trade-off for your long term sleep schedule stability.

Naturally, choosing a wise wake-up time is extremely important. Ensure that you can commit to a wake-up time, and by extension, a bedtime that gives you enough hours sustainably. 

Habits that make a difference

Some quick, actionable changes can make a noticeable difference in your sleep quality; a conducive sleep environment is the hallmark of good quality sleep. A dark, cool, quiet room is ideal. Dim or off all lights, keep a cool temperature (usually 23-25°C with fan circulation), and minimise irregular noise. 

Avoid using devices in bed too. Our brain associates environments with behaviours, and if we work or scroll in bed, we stop treating beds as a sleep cue. Our beds should solely signal sleep.

Getting sunlight within an hour of waking reinforces the circadian rhythm too. Open your curtains and let the light in, or better yet, step outside into the sun!

Naps can be a powerful tool to keep us alert in the day without jeopardising sleep later in the evening. Short naps of 10-30 minutes before 3 p.m. can give our bodies a light reset on days we need one. However, it's crucial to not take longer naps or nap too late in the day to preserve sleep pressure.

A personal favourite habit of mine is setting one alarm at the absolute latest time you can wake up. Snoozing through multiple alarms only means a few extra minutes of light, fragmented sleep that adds little to overall restfulness. Instead, maximise uninterrupted sleep, and to ensure you do wake up from the alarm as much as possible, mentally tell yourself to never snooze, and that waking up from this alarm is non-negotiable.

Handling struggles in falling asleep

On days we struggle to fall asleep, relaxation techniques can help. Box breathing – 4 counts each of inhaling through your nose, holding, exhaling through your mouth, and holding again – can restore calm in our body. Practising mindfulness in observing, yet not engaging, our thoughts and sensations can improve sleep quality. Rather than forcing sleep, which often works counterproductively, these habits can relax our minds and bodies to ease ourselves into sleep.

However, if you find yourself tossing and turning for extended periods of time, choosing to get out of bed temporarily can be the wise thing to do. The key indicator is feeling mentally wide awake rather than relaxed, and as a guideline, this comes after 20-30 minutes of being in bed without any relaxation. In such cases, do something low-stimulation such as reading or listening to calm music. Ideally, these should be done out of your bed to preserve a mental association of your bed with sleep. When you notice sleepiness (heavy eyelids, drifting thoughts, yawning), return to bed and wind down for sleep.

Does this mean we can all be Roger Federer?

Perhaps not, but with these habits, we can build a strong sleep schedule that formed the bedrock of Federer’s success. We are more able to pay attention to lectures, show up sharper to exams, and reach our full potential. Not through one perfect night, but through hundreds of good ones.