Students at Oberlin Conservatory and Cleveland Institute of Music have returned to classes following their respective fall breaks. Daily journaling is required in my class, but I only ask for one journal entry for Fall Break. I want to know what they did for self care during break time.
Here are some of their responses:
Slept a lot
Slept until I woke up without setting an alarm
Napped
Went to the gym
Did yoga
Took my dogs on walks
Went hiking/walks after dinner with my family
Went to Disney
Went to the beach
Enjoyed healthy food with my family
The overwhelming majority journaled about how they were getting so much more sleep that usual. They felt better, both physically and mentally, and instrument practice seemed more focused and easier. Part of this is likely due to the fact that they aren’t in rehearsals, classes, or lessons so they have more flexibility with when they choose to practice. I think the majority of it is due to the positive effects of sleeping.
We talk about this a lot during my classes; in fact, my students are probably rolling their eyes right now. Here she goes again…
Most humans can benefit from 7-9 hours of sleep per night. College life, and even middle school and high school life, are not set up to maximize sleep. Too many things happen too early in the morning. Dorms are loud, dorm beds are not ideal, and it’s hard to get to sleep sometimes. Sleeping is when our bodies heal and grow. It’s also when information is making its way from short term to long term storage. All of this info comes from Dr. Matthew Walker’s book, Why We Sleep: Unlocking the Power of Sleep and Dreams. So, for musicians who are memorizing rep for recitals or competitions, sleep is part of your memorizing strategy. We are human beings, not machines, and what we do as musicians is repetitive. We stand the same way and do the same motions over and over for years. This is wear and tear on the body and needs to be repaired at night when we’re sleeping.
When people start a new exercise routine with a trainer at the gym, they always talk about food, hydration, and sleep. If you’re not doing all three of these then you aren’t going to get the benefits you seek from the new exercise routine.
I ask my students this question, “What is the barrier that is preventing you from sleeping enough when you’re not on break?” They are busy people; they have work, rehearsals, practice, studying, gigs. I ask, “Would it be possible to get to bed 15 minutes earlier for a week?” “What if you gave up 15 minutes of doom scrolling on your phone before bed?” I also ask them if they schedule their bed time in their calendar app or whatever they’re using on their phone. Most of them look at me incredulously. Just try it… and see if you feel better. For all of us, going to be earlier means giving something up. Maybe you can’t stay up to watch the end of the game or your favorite show. Maybe you have a late rehearsal or work and have early class in the morning. Maybe this won’t work every night, but could it work some nights?
It’s also best for your body if you go to sleep and wake up the same time every day. I know college students are not going to do this. They sleep in on the weekends. I sleep in on the weekends, but I try to stay within an hour or so of usual wake up time. If you sleep in until 2pm on the weekends, it’s going to make 7am really tricky on Monday morning.
Lots of good things happen for health if you sleep well, eat healthy foods, drink enough water and move your body on a daily basis. The body you live in is the same body in which you perform. If you want output to be good (in terms of energy, focus, strength, coordination, memory, and performance), then you need to have quality input (in terms of what you’re putting in the tank for sleep, food, water, and movement).
All of these are choices. What choices are you making for your self-care?