English 112
Hilary Turner
October 27, 2001
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There are numerous new-found obstacles that threaten the survival of the first year student. In a new world of independence, freedom, and responsibility comes the plague of several new maladies. One of the worst and most challenging of these is the case of insomnia. When faced against, it proves very difficult to contend with. The only known cure available for insomnia is sleep.
Sleep, however, can be hard to come by. This sole ingredient often requires particular essentials which are difficult to attain. The main necessity to be obtained in order to get a good night's sleep is a clear head. Without this relaxed state of mind, sleep is a near impossibility. Going to bed with concerns and worries will ultimately lead to nothing more than a restless night of tossing and turning. It is imperative that your body lie calm and your conscience be at ease, without which and otherwise, sleep and dreams cannot occur. It is important therefore, for there to be no nagging thoughts to haunt your mind before hitting the pillow and shutting off the light. No nagging thoughts like those of unfinished homework or incomplete papers.
In order to achieve a clear head, you must have all your tasks completed. Any assignment, project, or other mental obstructions that are still in need of attention must be put to rest before you can hope to put yourself to rest. Once finished, the mind is free to feel content and thus able to relax. Not only will having finished the task leave you able to sleep, but the simple fact that it has been looked after will give you happy dreams of its content, allowing you to learn and absorb what the content had locked away behind the undesired cover of another tedious bullet on the To-Do List. This in itself is a step taken against insomnia. By resting easy after finishing a homework
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assignment, you will take in the knowledge it was meant to transmit while you sleep, thus making it easier to sleep the night before a test, since your knowledge of the subject is so much better. The only counter argument that exists must be based on the fact that the time taken to complete the tasks takes away from time needed to sleep. The defence to this is simple: time management.
In order to finish all your tasks with ample time to sleep comfortably, you must have a developed skill in time management. Organising tasks and designing schedules is the first step to becoming a skilled time manager. Plan ahead and be prepared. If three items on the list are due the same day which follows after a meeting the previous night, plan on doing one item before the meeting, one after, and one a couple days before. Again, having things done ahead of time will give you the opportunity to sleep easily about them and give yourself a better understanding about them before they are due, thus making study sessions more effective and less time consuming down the road. This of course gives you more time for sleep the night before an exam, and adds even more resistance to the undesired insomnia disorder.
By using proper time-management skills, you will find it easier to complete your tasks and set your mind at ease, thereby allowing you to sleep soundly. The cure to insomnia is time-management.