How To Get Better Sleep Before The Bar Exam
How To Sleep Before The Bar Exam
The bar exam is a long, arduous ordeal for even the most rested minds. If you add in a fitful night of sleep beforehand, it only makes it that much harder! In this post, we’ll go over some common tips to help you get a restful night of sleep before the bar exam!
1. Try to keep your sleep schedule.
The last thing to do right before the bar exam is to institute and brand new sleep schedule. If you want to get a restful night of sleep before the bar exam, try not to make major changes to your schedule. Now, your schedule may have changed in the weeks leading up to the exam based on your study habits. Your body, however, likes replicability. If you fall asleep around 11:00 p.m. every night, you probably won’t have much luck changing that the night before the bar exam. Even if you cannot get a full 8 hours of sleep, it’s best advised that you go to sleep when your body normally gets tired. There’s no point going to bed super early and lying there for hours, thinking about the bar exam, before you drift off to sleep.
2. Do not change your sleep approach.
A good way to ruin your sleep before the bar exam is to drastically change your sleep approach. If you fall asleep every night in front of the TV, that’s OK! Your body has a pattern of falling asleep. The stress of the bar exam is not going to change that. So keep doing what has worked for you in the past!
If you are lucky enough to sleep at home before the bar exam, then continue doing what has worked for you before. If you need to stay in a hotel beforehand, then try to replicate your home conditions as closely as possible. Crank the A.C. down, bring a white noise machine, even bring your own blankets and pillows if it helps you get a more restful sleep before the bar exam!
3. Physical activity can help, if timed well!
Exercise can help make it easier to sleep before the bar exam, but needs to be timed well. If you exercise too close to bedtime, you risk waking your body up even more. Exercise releases cortisol, a stress hormone which wakes your brain up. Doing this right before bed is a guaranteed way, for most people, to be up into the early hours of the morning. Instead, if possible, try to exercise several hours before you go to sleep. This gives your mind time to wind down before you try to turn it off for the night!
4. Avoid sleep supplements!
If you do not already take something to help you sleep, the night before the bar exam is a bad time to start trying! A new sleep supplement will generally cause some sort of drowsiness or grogginess in the morning. Even melatonin, which is available over the counter, has this effect, which can last for several hours after you wake up. The last thing you want to feel on bar exam day is sluggish or lethargic. So, if these are not already part of your sleep routine, avoid at all costs!
The same goes with alcohol. If you normally have a glass of wine before bed, then by all means have one. However, don’t have three, thinking it will knock you out faster. Generally, alcohol stops your mind from going into a restful stage of sleep, meaning you will wake up less rested. So, try to keep to your pre-bar exam routine.
We wish you the best of luck on the bar exam!
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