09 Jul How to Overcome Sleep and Stress During UPSC Preparation
UPSC is a marathon in which thousands of candidates participate every year, but only a few can achieve success. In such a competitive race, the candidates will often have irregular and disturbed sleep patterns and also increased levels of stress in the days just before the examination. For today, we have addressed these problems and some ways to harmonise sleep and stress during UPSC study so that your mind remains focused and balanced. In this article by plutusias.com, we will discuss how to Overcome Sleep and Stress During UPSC Preparation.
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Sleep Problems During UPSC Preparation
1. Irregular Sleep Schedule
An irregular sleep pattern is something most of the UPSC aspirants suffer from because they are following through late-night study hours, midnight revision, or just in a frenzy of syllabus completion. Sleep delays can affect the very core of cognitive functioning and memory retention, consequently affecting productivity.
An individual’s body has a circadian rhythm- a biological clock that regulates their sleeping-waking pattern. Disturbing this often will leave your mind exhausted and spirit burnt out. A few aspirants keep a badge for themselves on less sleep, believing it to fetch them more time for study. Instead, exposure to less sleep hampers efficiency.
Tip:
Fix up a time for sleeping and waking up. Whatever be the case, try to go to sleep at the same time and wake up at the same time each day, weekends included. This time frame should allow 6.5 to 7.5 hours of sleep. One should never photograph the blue light foreground on their mobiles or laptops in the hour before sleep. Instead, one should engage in a little light reading or meditate during that period.
2. Overthinking at Bedtime
Few aspirants report lying awake at night, overwhelmed by thoughts-the syllabus completion, the test series results, or the sheer fear of failure. This mental turmoil keeps them from naturally falling asleep. Admission of near-constant pre-sleep anxiety gives way to a diagnosis of insomnia.
The chain of overthinking only intensifies in the last few weeks before prelims or mains. Bodies become restless, and minds become alert-the exact opposite of what is needed to fall asleep.
Tip:
Maintain a “worry journal.” Every night before bed, jot down whatever is bothering you. This simple technique tends to declutter the mind. And avoid discussing mock tests or reading the news after dinner. Calm the mind with light music, slow breathing, or guided meditation.
3. Excessive Screen Time Before Bed
Almost all of an aspirant’s day is spent in front of screens—be it for watching online lectures, going through PDFs, current affairs, or mock tests. And by the time they have wound up their day, they probably end up scrolling through social media as a form of relaxation. As per sleep experts, too much screen time in the evening hours negatively impacts the quality of sleep.
Blue light coming out of the screen suppresses melatonin, the hormone that controls sleep. It delays the sleeping cycle, so later during deep sleep it gets further diminished. Hence, after a good sleep of about 7-8 hours, the person feels tired or uneasy.
Tip:
Make sure you’ve had a “digital sunset,” meaning: absolutely no screens for at least 1 hour before bedtime. Engage in calming activities instead: light reading (non-UPSC-related), journaling, or breathing exercises. Plus, do remember to switch on night mode or that helpful blue light filter during evening study hours to keep the eye strain at bay.
Stress During UPSC Preparation
4. Fear of Failure and Performance Pressure
Expecting so much UPSC has a toll on so much hope, years of hard work, expectation of parents, mark of comparison among friends, and the whole self-esteem tied to one exam. This leads to acute pressure to perform. The very fear of “what if I fail” puts the candidate under emotional stress and emotional trauma, preventing his confidence from growing.
It also injects stress to really study or pushes one to procrastinate. The more one fears the outcome, the more one gets distracted from the process.
Tip:
Change your viewpoint from results to efforts. Track daily goals instead of outcomes. Tell yourself affirmations such as, “I am improving daily”, or “Effort is in my hands, result is not.” Speak to your mentors or peers who have witnessed failure-it makes the journey normal. Remember, it is not about one attempt but your long-term goal.
5. Isolation and Lack of Emotional Support
Preparing for the UPSC can get pretty lonely. Well, the long hours of self-study make it” emotional, maybe?”. From a coping perspective, the aspirants may feel, “nobody understands their struggle,” especially if they are away from home or being put up in hostels or PGs.
The isolation becomes even more pronounced in these remaining few months when social media acts out and normal conversations take a nosedive. With no avenue for emotional ventilation, suppressed stress silently builds up and then erupts in anger, anxiety, or low moods.
Tip:
Try to keep in touch with a small circle-one friend, parent, or sibling-with whom you can talk weekly about anything and everything. Recognise that emotions are never a distraction. They do require an outlet. Even 10 minutes of casual chat per week goes a long way towards healing. Join up for a group study or a peer discussion session, sometimes just to feel part of a community.
6. Syllabus Overload and Time Mismanagement
One of the greater overwhelming aspects of the UPSC prep is syllabus overload. Almost every candidate tries to complete work on current affairs, GS, optional, test series, and value addition all at once. This activity creates clutter in the mind and anxiety about time. The guilty thought of “time slipping away” further escalates the panic and stress.
This becomes more so during the last 1-2 months before the Mains. Candidates sacrifice breaks and meals; many choose to do away with sleep, all in a rush to cram “just one more topic.” Or so this is what they perceive as beneficial-they lessen the retention of anything they are trying to study.
Tip:
Keep a weekly planner that is realistic, and avoid daily to-do lists that are overloaded. Go with quality over quantity. Apply the Pareto principle, i.e., 80% of your marks can come from 20% of high-value preparation. Include 90 minutes of work activity and a “relaxing activity”- dance, walking, music, stretches, etc.
Conclusion
Preparing for the UPSC, after all, is not just a matter of reading books and solving test series. It is the art of balancing energy between mind and body. Sleep and stress are like two pillars deciding how long and how effectively you’ve to run in this marathon.
A poorly rested brain equals a lethargic one, while an uncontrolled stress level equals a spirit breakdown. These can be controlled with some mindful, tiny steps taken in everyday routine: say sleep hygiene, journaling, support network, time planning-the bigger the name, the simpler the steps. Success in UPSC is awarded not to the one who studies the most but to the one who manages to stay stable the longest.
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