<p>I’m a student, but I thought I might get more help here…
I’ve been at college for a couple of weeks and haven’t slept through the night once since I got here. I think I’m just too light a sleeper for college. My dorm is in a central part of campus and right by a bunch of the frats. Even with the windows shut and curtains drawn, I can hear people yelling outside until 3 in the morning, and trucks and motorcycles going by. My roommates make reasonable efforts to be quiet, but even typing and quiet talking in the other room keeps me awake. One roommate has class 2 hours earlier than me, and no matter how quickly she turns off her alarm, it wakes me up enough that I can’t go back to sleep. Earplugs didn’t help much, listening to calm music with headphones until I’m almost asleep helps somewhat but not enough. I like my roommates and my floor and don’t really want to switch dorms, if it’s even possible, but I’m half asleep in class and can’t function without a nap in the afternoon. Any ideas for either blocking the noise or learning to sleep through it? Thanks.</p>
<p>I really sympathize, I had a terrible time sleeping in college as well.</p>
<p>Have you tried a white noise machine? Or sleeping different hours?</p>
<p>I’ve always been an early to bed, early to rise type, but to try and sleep those hours on a college campus is to fight a losing battle, I’m afraid.</p>
<p>If you can take naps, I think your best bet is to work that into your schedule. Siestas are a way of life in some countries.</p>
<p>I bought my daughter a Bose noise cancellation earphone ($200-300). She used to have a very noisy next door neighbor last year (phone calls, parties) and she is living in a sorority with 40+ girls right now. She uses the earphone every night and she thinks it really works.</p>
<p>As odd as this might sound, also get a sleeping mask. Light can bring you to a state of light sleep that the noise then brings you all the way to awake. </p>
<p>DD found this to be a really big help with her roommate’s odd hours. She did pair it with the ear plugs and ipod music. In the end it was just ok and she is in her own room this year in an apartment. She lives with like-minded sleepers so she can get her sleep which she needs for her health. .</p>
<p>I’ve thought about the noise cancellation headphones, but wonder if you can still hear an alarm clock or a smoke detector when wearing them?</p>
<p>S loves his sleep. After sharing a dorm room freshman year, he asked to have a single. I agreed (there was very little monetary difference at his college). </p>
<p>He uses ear plugs, placed his bed where he got the least overall noise and I got him a blackout curtian for his window. He has rugs on the floor that help sound deaden a little bit.</p>
<p>At least before winter, he runs several fans for both air circulation and white noise effect.</p>
<p>My W uses white noise machines (not the head phones) and they do work. You can still hear alarms.</p>
<p>My daughter also used ear plugs and a fan for the white noise effect.
It helped. She has gotten me hooked on ear plugs.</p>
<p>Karen, the noise-cancellation feature reduces the background humming, buzzing, etc., but anything above that level will be heard loud and clear. At our local Bose store there is a specially setup room where shoppers can try out the phones. The earphones are great; one caveat is that you need to change the battery in the phones once in a while.</p>
<p>I live in a big, noisy city. I sleep with ear plugs each night. Drug stores sell very nice silicon plugs that are very flexible, quite comfortable, and stay put. They are around $5 for about 6 weeks’ worth. I can hear my alarm clock and if someone speaks to me in the night, to wake me up, I can hear that too. But I sleep right through big thunderstorms and the phone ringing. I am a very light sleeper and these do the trick for me.</p>
<p>There are ear plugs and then there are ear plugs. Not sure what type you bought.</p>
<p>I only needed them at one period in my life when DS, a drummer, liked to practice when we liked to sleep ;). We didn’t want to discourage the practicing. So I got these [Buy</a> Mack’s Pillow Soft Silicone Earplugs Online at drugstore.com](<a href=“Walgreens: Pharmacy, Health & Wellness, Photo & More for You”>Walgreens: Pharmacy, Health & Wellness, Photo & More for You). You mold them to your ear, rather than just pop in a supposed one-size-fits-all variety.</p>
<p>I second the sleep mask idea (even though I’m not sensitive to light when trying to sleep most of the time) and maybe the white noise thing.</p>
<p>Good luck. I hope that next year you can get a single, as even roommates who get along can be incompatible with sleep vs. study habits.</p>
<p>My son likes the white noise machine. He is difficult to wake up in am, so he was wary of earplugs too. To go to sleep, he usually used his ipod–sometimes listened to meditation tapes.</p>
<p>Melatonin , a natural nutritional supplement, might help. Avoid caffeine in the afternoon and beyond, don’t exercise within three hours of bed. Alcohol, although a depressant can disrupt sleep, too, so a good thing to avoid (for more than one reason!), How comfortable is the bed? Maybe invest in one of those great fiberbed or featherbed toppers. I’ve also heard that it’s not good to nap during the daytime if you are trying to develop good nighttime sleep habits. I agree with all the suggestions as to white noise machine (although your roommates might object to the noise), advanced ear plugs, eye masks etc. S has those Bose noise cancel earphones - not sure they’d be comfortable to sleep in, though they are good for studying in the room etc. It’s also possible that the stress (even if you think of it as good stress) of being away at college for the first time is leading to the insomnia. </p>
<p>A room change, even though it’s not your first choice might be something to consider if all else fails. If this is becoming a real issue, going through the appropriate channels and documenting this (maybe through visits to student health) could get you priority on a housing switch if it comes to that. I’d go to student health if the insomnia doesn’t resolve itself in any case, just to make sure there are no other reasons for it. I feel for you - having more than one roommate on all different schedules would be a situation that’s tough for many people. Good luck.</p>
<p>For the next few days, try hard not to nap during the day. In the evening and after your work is done, try to get into the habit of working out a bit. During the day, take the stairs–skip the elevators. Put the books away and find something fun/relaxing to do about an hour before you’re planning on going to bed. The obvious–cut out the chocolate, coca cola, and coffee after lunch.</p>
<p>^^^ There’s some difference of opinion as to whether or not it’s good to exercise before bed. Some evidence suggests that it helps no matter when you do it, other studies have shown that too close to bedtime interferes with sleep.</p>
<p>I think daily exercise and the right earphones/plugs should help. It helps to be physically tired. My H always says I would sleep through an atomic attack, but really, I think in part, deeper sleeping can be learned. Some people even fall asleep to music or tv as a white noise type thing too.</p>
<p>All these suggestions are good. My condolences – not sleeping well can really cause huge stress.</p>
<p>I have moved more than twenty-five times since I first left home for college thirty-seven years ago. Each of my new environments came with its own “soundtrack,” to which I had to become accustomed before I was able to sleep soundly at night. I have had a lot of practice becoming accustomed to new environments/sounds, and I have never used sound muffling/cancelling devices while sleeping. As a result, I have acquired the ability to sleep soundly almost anywhere. </p>
<p>Like you, I am sensitive to sound, especially when I sleep. I can fall asleep with lights blazing overhead and people tromping in and out of my bedroom, but I can be either kept awake or instantly awakened by an unfamiliar sound (no matter how faint). Over the years, I have learned that if I hear an unfamiliar sound often enough, that sound gradually becomes familiar to me, and no longer draws my attention or disturbs my sleep. </p>
<p>I suggest that you give yourself some time to adjust to the sounds of your new environment naturally–without earplugs, headphones, earphones, sleep masks, white noise machines, nutritional supplements, or (worst case scenario) health services-dispensed drugs. Just tough it out. The adjustment period will include additional nights of bad sleep, but eventually, you’ll be able to tune out the frats, motorcycles, keyboards, voices, alarm clocks, and other sounds you currently find disruptive while you’re trying to sleep.</p>
<p>In the meantime, continue taking naps as you need them. (There’s nothing wrong with a good nap, whether or not you sleep soundly at night.) Don’t force yourself to go to sleep if you’re not tired, and don’t force yourself to stay awake if you are tired. Don’t go to bed too full or too hungry. Make sure that your bedding and bedroom are as physically comfortable as possible. Dress comfortably for bed, too. (I’ve slept in my street clothes from time to time; it’s no fun.)</p>
<p>You’ve been at school for only a few weeks, so give yourself some more time to get used to your new environment and its unfamiliar sounds. In a few more weeks, when your environment and its sounds are more familiar to you, you’ll be well on your way to sleeping soundly every night.</p>
<p>Best wishes.</p>
<p>S is now a junior. Since day one, he has slept with fans running in his room (year round). Freshman year, when he lived in the regular dorms, he and his roommate ran three fans almost constantly. Now that he has his own room in a four bedroom apartment he runs either one or two. The white noise from the fan basically blocks out all outside (and inside) noise without impeding his ability to hear his alarm clock. We also put up very dark, light weight curtains on a poll over his windows. We attached them over the window with those adhesive backed hooks that can hold the pole. We got the curtains, pole, and adhesive holders at Walmart. If properly applied and removed, they should not damage any of the walls. This past summer, S lived in an apartment that basically faced the sun at the worst part of the day for him. The windows had only blinds, no curtains. He got a large cardboard box that he cut to size and inserted it into the window space to block out sunlight. It could be easily removed when he wanted extra light.</p>
<p>I truly sympathize. My husband has the same problem still after all of these years. If he is awakened, and he awakens easily, it is very difficult if not impossible for him to get back to sleep. You can just imagine how difficult that was when our five kids were babies, and again when they were coming home late at night. With a stressful job that requires sharp thinking skills, this is a big issue for us. </p>
<p>None of the white noise, earphones, etc worked for him at all. He had to basically train himself to try to go back to sleep and to rest if he cannot sleep. He is now able to go on fewer hours of actual sleep coupled with rest where he just lies and lets himself relax though not sleeping.</p>
<p>hawaii123, my sympathies. I might tend to agree with what TimeCruncher said-give yourself a bit more time to become “accustomed” to the noise. When I went to college in the Dark Ages, my freshman year room faced the emergency room entrance of a major metropolitan hospital :rolleyes: I was coming from a home on a dead end street which had a total of 5 houses. I was in total shock for the first few weeks, but eventually, my body adapted and I slept through the sirens!</p>