Rebecca Wong, Journalism student, UNSW, Sydney

As a journalism student at the University of New South Wales, I’d been getting 5 hours sleep if I was lucky. Maybe it was the poor diet, the lack of exercise or the compulsive need to check my phone every five minutes, but I simply couldn’t get to sleep.

The impact of not enough sleep was devastating. It made me want to crawl out of my skin. Late last year I was inspired by a NapNow blog calling for designated nap spaces at universities. It made me realise the power of sleep to restore the body and mind.

These days, I’ve learnt to nap after lunch at uni. You’ll find me napping on Level 2 of the UNSW Quad, where there’s a quiet spot with the most comfy sofa. That spot has become my sleep sanctuary. Needless to say, I always feel refreshed and focused after napping.

Once my mind has cleared, it’s so much easier to study without a cloud of sleepiness hanging over me. Interestingly my nighttime sleep has seen a major improvement since I started napping, and I can now prioritise sleep over checking my phone!

Rebecca has since started her own sleep blog Choose to Snooze, that targets sleep deprived University Students.