After hours of studying and stress (a ridiculous amount), finals season is officially over for some of you like myself, and you’re ready to start the summer. These past several months have been anything but a cake walk, and you most likely spent a lot of your time has been spent in the library trying to finish up some paper or studying. Everyone knows the struggle of sitting down to study and getting lost in your own thoughts, thinking about everything else you could be doing besides studying. Then later on in the night, you will be staying up late trying to make up for the lost time.

Going to bed right after memorizing loads of information can make it hard to fall asleep as your brain is still processing all these new facts you just threw at it. This can actually alter your test performance since you’re losing those precious hours of beauty sleep the following day if your body and mind, isn’t properly rested.

Over the past years (since I started college), I have collected some tips on how to get a great night’s sleep to improve my performance on whatever I am doing the following day. Here you have the ones that helped me the most during my everyday life especially when exams roll around:

That assignment you’re working hard on?

Stop working on it about an hour before you want to go to bed. This will help your brain disconnect from everything you were thinking about when you were working on your schoolwork or regular work, and you won’t go to bed thinking about school.

Don’t use electronic devices.

As tempting as it might be, avoid using your laptop or your phone before going to bed as their blue light can negatively affect your sleeping pattern and can make it harder for you to fall asleep. iPhones now have this cool new feature where the blue light emission is minimized at night.

Trust me, you won’t miss anything while you’re sleeping.

Try to eat several hours before bed.

Being too hungry or too full can actually make falling asleep a real nightmare. If you can’t help it and delicious cakes happen to appear in front of you before bed time, try having some non-caffeinated tea to aid digestion.

Essential oils.

Now this isn’t something I’ve tried but what I have tried is the pillow mist from Bath and Body works, which is an essential oil with other variables mixed in it. All you have to do is spray some of that on your pillow, and while you lay your head on your pillow you inhale the scent of calming lavender and you’re off to a distant dream land.

Exercise is key.

Proper exercise can alter your body chemistry (endorphins make people happy and happy people just don’t kill their husbands.) And while sometimes it can give you a bit too much energy, doing a relaxing exercise like yoga before bed can relax you and help you get ready for bed. It’s also a good time to reflect about your day or your week and to think about your goals and what you want to achieve in the near future.