This week, we’d like to share a story about a recent meeting we had with a student who was working with an extremely common problem in adolescence. The student was frustrated by what they called “mood swings.” Nothing radical, just feeling down when they felt they should be feeling “up;” feeling exhausted when they wanted to be energized, etc. We asked about how sleep factored into the mood picture. The student laughed and said, “I have no idea!” We talked about sleep tracking and the student took the ball and ran with it, returning for check-in three weeks later with their sleep “diary.” They reported that sleep deficit nights were followed by low-to-dysregulated mood days. This was a big aha exercise for the student. While a sleep diary is hard to initiate during finals week, it is exactly the right time to share with your student this anecdote. Best of luck to your students on final and we hope you have a peaceful and sweet break.
Allen Choi, Wellness Coordinator
Casey Sasner, Intake Specialist
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