The back-to-school spirit of September is a perfect time to hit the reset button on your routines and habits. So we asked the Fordham community to share their best tips for getting a good night’s sleep, finding time to exercise, and supporting your mental and spiritual health for a lower-stress academic year.
How To…Get Better Sleep
Finding the optimal amount of sleep is a subject that psychology professor Molly E. Zimmerman, Ph.D., has long studied in her neuropsychology lab, primarily among college students. Her research within this cohort has established that “in order to optimize cognitive function, the best sleep is stable and consistent sleep,” she said.
This means going to bed around the same time every day—even weekends—and limiting things that impair your ability to sleep, like alcohol and caffeine, in the afternoons and evenings.
“I don’t worry as much about the total number of hours of sleep per night (although this is important, too) and focus instead on keeping a consistent bedtime schedule,” Zimmerman said.
To stay on track, she set up a bedtime reminder on her phone. “It is easy to get lost in various evening activities, but I find the phone reminder is really effective,” she said. (And in case you’re wondering—she’s lights out at 10:30!)
How To…Get Back Into a Fitness Routine
With 30 years of personal training and fitness experience, Sarah Bickford, Administrator of Fitness and Recreation, knows how to make a fitness routine stick. She suggests writing down your fitness goals and being specific about when you’ll achieve them. It’s best to start with something small and doable like “I want to walk every day at lunch for 30 minutes” she said. Then add it to your calendar like any other appointment.
The goal is to be as consistent as possible for at least four to six weeks, which is about how long it will take to see or feel any changes. Then you can determine if you want to add anything else to your regimen. And if you fall off the wagon, it’s ok.
“Failure is part of the process in adapting to a habit,” said Bickford. “Just start again and before you know, it will manifest into part of your day.”
How To…Care For Your Whole Person
We prioritize cura personalis as part of our Jesuit mission. But how do you make time for it on a daily basis? Carol Gibney, director of Campus Ministry for solidarity and leadership, recommends starting with gratitude.
“They say you cannot be unhappy and grateful in the same space. So cultivating an attitude of gratitude is truly helpful,” she said. She has a group text thread with 10 friends who share three things daily that they’re grateful for. “It really does elicit joy,” she said.
It’s also a key part of the Ignatian examen. “Looking for grace, praying for grace, allowing grace to flow through us and in us and all around us—it starts with gratitude.”
How To…Be Your Best Self at Work
As director of Fordham’s Counseling and Psychological Services for the past 14 years, Jeffrey Ng, Psy.D., supports students’ mental health, but he has some tips for Fordham employees, too.
“A real basic need, which I think a lot of folks don’t speak about, is our need to have a sense of belonging, community and connection. Human beings are social beings, and the importance of social connection cannot be understated. It is so crucial.”
Toward that end, he recommends inviting a colleague to lunch, letting your supervisor know if you are feeling isolated, or attending one of the many events on campus to connect with people across the University. (Fordham’s Ignatian programming is a great place to start.)
Also key to supporting your mental health at work: self-compassion. Accepting that we are imperfect and will not get everything right all of the time, said Ng, “allows us to focus on growing and developing. … Striving for perfection just creates more anxiety and robs us of opportunities to learn and grow.”
