Sleeping Night Before LSAT

[moshei24]

Hi!

I was thinking about falling asleep the night before the LSAT, and I know that people often have trouble falling asleep. Would taking a Benadryl or something that helps to induce sleep be a good or bad idea? My mom thinks that it would result in me being drowsy the next morning as she thinks it would stay in my system.

What are your tips for falling asleep the night before? Would it be a bad idea or a good idea to take a pill? What else is there to do?

Thanks,
Moshe

[Justin Eleff]

In general, I think it's a bad idea to do ANYTHING you don't usually do on the night before or day of the test. I get questions like this from my students fairly often, involving a wide range of suggested home remedies (and, as you might guess, sometimes pharmacological ones) for problems like sleeplessness and inability to concentrate. Speaking only for myself, not for PowerScore, I am fairly open-minded about this kind of thing, and I tend to believe that even when something like Benadryl has no actual effect, you might luck into a placebo effect that indeed helps you nod off. But I'd recommend you do two things:

1. Decide ahead of time whether you want to try something like what you're proposing, and if you decide to do so, give yourself at least one test run on some night that isn't the one before the test. Again, don't do anything you don't usually do -- or, at the very least, don't do anything for the first time -- on the night before or day of the test.

2. Take the whole day before the test off from studying. If you feel the urge to hit the books, go for a walk instead. Or see a movie. Or go out to eat. Just take the day off. That should refresh your brain and relax you overall, and at no real cost; if you aren't fully ready for the test on 10/5, you won't be fully ready on 10/6. And then maybe try jogging or something similar -- some physical exertion -- right before bedtime. There's nothing better for falling asleep than being genuinely exhausted.

Hey, and if all else fails, listen to your mother. That's seldom a bad idea.