Night

Good evening friends,

It has been quite a while since I've written.

Something that's been on my mind lately was just the upsides and the lessons I've learned over junior year in quarantine. It's really easy to just see the bad side and the focus on the negatives happening around me, but tonight I've just been looking at the sky and just been meditating on how grateful I am for all that I have.

Specifically, I think one of the greatest lessons and experience quarantine has gifted me, was how much more time I have for myself. I wanted to talk more about how much more time I have for sleep compared to freshman and sophomore year. Even with so many negatives surrounding me during quarantine, catching up on sleep tremendously helped me both mentally and physically. I was so drained in sophomore year because of zero period (I was not accustomed to waking up that early) and the more difficult courses I had to take that year. It is really easy to forget how important sleep is because I was always busy with homework and school.

When I took my PSYC course a while back, learning about sleep and how essential it is to health, made me appreciate and value sleep more than I had before. During sophomore year, I sacrificed sleep for homework, school, and even shows I wanted to watch. I had underestimated just how important sleep was and now that I do get enough sleep, how much better I feel about going throughout my day. The impacts of sleep on my mental health was so evident during COVID-19, and I am really thankful for the rest I got.

Some of the benefits of proper sleep:

- helps our bodies repair itself

- strengthen immune system

- improves emotional and mental health

- having enough REM (rapid eye movement and is when there is more dreaming and movement involved) sleep helps our brains process thoughts, memories, and emotional content

Source: https://www.sleepfoundation.org/mental-health

Night drive