I never seem to get enough sleep. If I don’t watch what I’m doing, I can easily stay up browsing the internet until 5am. On the flip side I also tend to sleep through most alarms. As a Computer Science student I have tackled these problems the only way I know how: Program my computer to solve them for me. Here are a few tools for Linux which help me either go to sleep on time, or wake up when I need to.
You may have heard that you shouldn't browse the web or use your phone before going to sleep. The reason for this is that while your body is exposed to blue light it does not produce the chemical melatonin, which primarily helps you go to sleep. Of course if you're anything like me, you won't set aside your evening web browsing for anything. To combat this, you can install an program such as redshift which automatically adjusts the colors on your screen to reduce the amount of blue light given off. During the day your screen will have the same colors as normal, however after sunset it will turn down the blue colors, making your screen look more red (hence the name). This allows your body to begin entering "sleep mode" so you don't lie in bed for another hour after turning off your device.
How many times have you started watching videos or a show only to keep clicking
"next video" indefinetly. The simplest way to stop myself is simply set up
a timed shutdown or sleep. To do this on Linux, simply run the command
shutdown +t &
where t is how many minutes in the future you want to shut down. To cancel the
scheduled shutdown, simply run shutdown -c.
The most useful part about a timed shutdown is that you can start an episode of your favorite show, slip into bed, and your computer will automatically shut itself down when it is done. Since I would have to stand up to click the "next" button, I tend to just turn around and go to sleep, rather than continue binge watching.
Even if you go to sleep early, if you don't wake up to your alarm you won't be able to fall asleep the next night. Therefore, an effective alarm is key. An optimal alarm has 3 parts to it: Volume, annoyance, and threat of social suicide. The first two are self explanatory: volume is necessary for you to actually hear your alarm. Annoyance is to make you want to turn it off. However, threat of social suicide is the key ingredient to get you out of bed to turn off the alarm, rather than curl into a ball and tune it out.
The solution is to build an alarm tone which starts off quiet, then plays a somewhat louder warning tone, and after around a minute blasts a tone loud enough to wake your neighbors. You can find the alarm tone I use here named alarm-tone.mp3. I have also written a program which runs the alarm tone, which can be found here, instructions in the README. Just make sure to test it before running it in production!
You will of course need some sort of computer to run this alarm. It's best to hook your computer up to some loud speakers, so that if the alarm gets to the loud part, you're sure not to wake up. Now that you already have the computer and speakers, you could also add some background noise for the night to help you tone out your loud neighbors you have.
I've been there too. I wake up from my alarm, and decide "I have plenty of time before my first class, so I'll just go back to sleep". This is an easy way to destroy your sleep schedule for days to come. The best solution to this is to make plans for the next day with people who will care if you don't show up. Blowing off lecture because i'm too lazy to get up? Sure. Skipping a study session I specifically planned the day before? No way. Making plans early the next day ensures you get up in time to keep your sleep schedule in tact.
Being in college comes with a ton of freedom. However, without anyone watching over me my sleep schedule tends to suffer. With the help of these tools and tricks I have managed to stabilize my sleep schedule. Hopefully they help you as well!