Delegate: Bikem Kızılduman
Delegate Short Bio: I am a psychologist and completed my MSc in General Psychology at the Eastern Mediterranean University, North Cyprus. Since I am interested in behavioral aspects of sleep, my master’s thesis focused on the relationship between insomnia and emotional eating, allowing me to explore how young adults’ sleep patterns influence eating behaviors when insomnia symptoms intervene. I have been actively involved in an insomnia intervention study as a member of the Sleep Behaviors Research Group at EMU for the past three years.
Scope of Activity: Individual activity
Activity: For this year’s World Sleep Day, I organized an interactive and scientifically based workshop for university students who have sleep problems at the Eastern Mediterranean University. The title of the workshop was “Healthy Sleep for a Better Life: A Workshop for University Students” in line with this year’s theme of “Sleep Well, Live Better”. I conducted it together with Assist. Prof. Gökçe Yılmaz Akdoğan, who assisted me throughout the workshop.
The main goal of the workshop was to raise awareness on the importance of quality sleep for physical and psychological health, cognitive processes, academic performance, and eating patterns, while also emphasizing the negative impacts of sleep problems on overall life quality for university students.
As an ice-breaking activity, I encouraged everyone to talk about themselves and their sleep problem or whether they have a sleep problem. Then, participants filled out the insomnia severity index so that they could be aware of the severity of their sleep problem. Afterwards, the scoring interpretation was explained and emphasized that the most severe group should contact a medical doctor for their sleep problem.
The workshop began with grouping 16 university students randomly assigned to 4 groups. Each group needed to work together to answer some questions, 15 minutes were given for them to discuss and write down bullet points on cardboards about these topics: 1) What is a good quality sleep? vs What is a sleep problem? 2) How does sleep affect our lives when it’s good? vs How does a sleep problem affect our lives? 3) What causes good quality sleep? vs What causes sleep problems? 4) What can we do within our capacity to sleep well so that we can live better? Afterwards, each group presented their work, then theoretical and scientifically based knowledge was introduced to correct any mistakes or myths about sleep.
Dividing participants into groups allowed everyone to make new friends, actively participate, and share their perspectives on what they perceived as true or false. This approach also enhanced their motivation to adopt healthy sleep habits and improve the quality of their sleep.
To address the question of what we can do to sleep well, evidence-based sleep hygiene principles and stimulus control techniques were introduced, and students were provided with practical steps that they could apply in their daily lives. Sleep hygiene optimizes sleep quality by establishing consistent routines and environmental adjustments, helps address factors that disrupt sleep, and promotes overall physical and mental well-being. Additionally, stimulus control therapy aims to re-associate the bed and bedroom with sleep rather than wakefulness or anxiety and establish a consistent sleep-wake schedule to improve sleep onset and sleep quality.
At the end, students completed a behavioral contract, a written agreement outlining specific sleep goals and the actions they would take to improve their sleep. They were encouraged to integrate the techniques into their nightly routines, monitor their effects using the provided sleep diary, and return it for feedback. Any questions from students were addressed, and the session was concluded.
Following this, Dr. Hasan Ergüler, a clinical psychologist specializing in mindfulness-based therapies, conducted brief exercises with the students to introduce mindfulness techniques aimed at promoting relaxation and facilitating sleep onset more effectively.
Location: Famagusta
Date of Activity: 13.03.2026
