Sleeping During A Pandemic: Top Tips From Sleeping Experts For A Peaceful Night’s Rest

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Although it may seem like such an easy part of the day for some, falling asleep can feel impossible for others. Sleep is essential to our health and wellbeing and plays one of the biggest roles in keeping healthy. Millions across the globe are not receiving the adequate amount of sleep that they need. A survey conducted by the National Science Foundation (NSF) found that nearly 40million Americans continuously suffer from over 70 types of different sleep disorders and 60 per cent reported having trouble sleeping.

Environment and before bedtime behavior plays one of the biggest roles in getting a good night sleep. Many lose sleep due to stresses of daily life that they take to bed with them. This can have a massive physiological impact which lead to sleep deprivations and disorders. In general, most healthy adults should be getting around an average of 8 hours of sleep per night with children much more depending on their age ranges.

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Sleeping in a pandemic

Before learning how best to sleep during a pandemic, it’s good to think of the reason why you may not be able to to identify and deal with them better. Lockdowns and general anxiety have seen us leave our homes less. Many are now working from home which changed life dramatically. In doing so, our normal routines have changed and so adjusting to a new schedule can be difficult.

Over the course of the pandemic, many have also lost their jobs which cause an increase in stress. Low levels of natural light can also play a big part in mood, thus affecting sleep. We may also be moving around a lot less and not doing as much exercise as we used to which means we are using less energy resulting in more energy to go to bed with. Sleep can also largely be affected by screen time. Hours staring at screens regardless of if they are computers, laptops or smart devices can have an impact on the quality of sleep we receive. Long exposure and activity on our devices stimulate our mind making it much harder to wind down. The blue light emitted from the screens also reduced the natural production of melatonin which is a hormone naturally produced by the body to help us sleep.

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Here’s a look at some helpful steps to help you get a better night sleep during the pandemic.

Set a daily routine and schedule

Establishing a routine will help your mind to facilitate normalcy. This will help your brain know what to expect during the day and in the evenings. Making sure you always go to bed at the same time is also important for it as it will be able to understand and shut off at around the same time everyday. Working daily activities that you would normally do if you were off to work also helps. For example, having a shower even if you are not leaving the house and having lunch and dinner around the same time everyday help to bring a sense of normality to your life.

Reserving different areas of the house

As we tackle lockdown and spend large amounts of time in the same spaces, it is important to give each area in your living space its own purpose. For example, reserving your bed for only when you sleep will help you mind distinguish the connection between bed and sleep. This is a good practice to continue around the house too. Keep the kitchen and dining table for only eating and having lunch and dinner and the sofa for relaxing and unwinding.

Spending some time in light and outdoors

Natural light has some of the most positive effects on your bodies. It’s harder to fall asleep during the day than it is at night because of the daylight which makes our mind conscious of the time of day. Light also has a positive effect on our natural circadian rhythm. One the daylight begins to turn to night, our brains can understand that sleeping is closer which can help prepare our minds for a better night’s sleep.

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