source:- wired.com<\/p>\n
It’s not easy to relax in the middle of the Covid-19 pandemic. But there are some simple tips and techniques that can help you get some shut-eye.<\/p>\n
LIFE IN THE<\/span>\u00a0Covid-19 pandemic has taken on some unpleasant and unexpected contours. Time has\u00a0lost all meaning. Dreams have\u00a0become assailingly vivid. That is, if you\u2019re able to sleep at all, which many people cannot. At least, not as well as they did before it felt like everything was unraveling, all of the time, with no end in sight.<\/p>\n \u201cI am seeing a significant spike in insomnia at this time during the pandemic,\u201d says Lisa Medalie, a behavioral sleep medicine specialist at the University of Chicago.<\/p>\n It might be useful to nail down our terms here. Insomnia isn\u2019t just staying up late. It\u2019s the inability to sleep\u2014or to fall back asleep if you wake in the middle of the night\u2014with no obvious impediments to explain it. Implicit in the definition, too, is that the deprivation negatively impacts your ability to function the next day. It\u2019s acute when it lasts a few days or weeks; if it extends longer than a month, it\u2019s considered chronic.<\/p>\n If this sounds like you, know first that you\u2019re going through the same thing as a lot of people. And also know there are a few simple strategies you can deploy to get yourself back on track.<\/p>\n It is extremely understandable if you have cut yourself some slack during these\u00a0sheltered-in-place times. Maybe your diet has gone a little snack-heavy. Maybe you shifted your work hours to make way for childcare or self-care. Maybe you stopped flossing. Only natural. But sleep is something worth preserving\u2014even though that\u2019s harder than it may sound.<\/p>\n \u201cDuring times of increased stress, sleep is often the first biological system to malfunction,\u201d says Candice Alfano, director of the University of Houston\u2019s Sleep and Anxiety Center. A pandemic is stressful like magma is hot. In a recent online survey conducted by Alfano and her research team, the rate of respondents reporting \u201csevere to very severe problems\u201d either falling or staying asleep was double what they normally see.<\/p>\n That tossing and turning has real health implications. As neuroscientist and sleep expert\u00a0Matthew Walker detailed in a 2019 TED Talk, sleep deprivation makes your brain slower, weakens your immune system, and increases the likelihood of all kinds of mental and physical woes as you age. \u201cSleep loss will leak down into every nook and cranny of your physiology,\u201d Walker said in his\u00a0viral presentation. \u201cSleep, unfortunately, is not an optional lifestyle luxury. Sleep is a nonnegotiable biological necessity. It is your life support system.\u201d<\/p>\n Unfortunately, life amid Covid-19 disrupts that sleep in any number of ways. There\u2019s the anxiety, sure, not just about the disease itself but about financial security, childcare, and all the other ancillary effects of a society in suspended animation. \u201cIf you\u2019re not tackling those problems head-on during the day, then when it\u2019s just you and your brain at night and there\u2019s no distractions, all of those problems, all those worries, all those stressers are going to come bubbling to the surface,\u201d says Medalie. \u201cThe thoughts are going to produce emotional responses, the emotional responses are going to produce more thoughts, and the realization that time has passed and you\u2019re not sleeping produces anxiety.\u201d<\/p>\n It gets worse. \u201cThe relationship actually runs in both directions,\u201d says Alfano. \u201cEven during times of low stress, sleep loss elevates next-day anxiety, potentially creating a vicious cycle.\u201d<\/p>\n While stress contributes greatly to sleep woes, it\u2019s not the only factor in play. Staying mostly at home makes for a more sedentary lifestyle than your body might be accustomed to, which can make falling asleep harder. You may be looking at your screen even more than usual, pulling to refresh for the latest Covid-19 tolls or mind-smoothing TikTok loops late into the night. While you do, the blue-spectrum light emanating from your phone tells your brain to stop producing melatonin, the hormone that regulates your sleep-wake cycle, also known as the circadian rhythm.<\/p>\n And while bedtime gets much of the focus when it comes to sleep problems, a morning without routine\u2014there\u2019s\u00a0no office to report to, after all\u2014can be just as detrimental. \u201cA lot of people don\u2019t realize that the wake-up time and getting out of bed and exposure to light is probably the most important thing that regulates our circadian rhythm,\u201d says Jason Ong, a neurologist who focuses on sleep medicine at Northwestern University, referring to the biological process. \u201cYour brain is confused about what time zone it\u2019s supposed to be in.\u201d<\/p>\n The circumstances wrought by Covid-19, in other words, seem almost specifically engineered to interfere with your sleep cycles. Fortunately, there\u2019s plenty you can do to reclaim your shut-eye.<\/p>\n Let\u2019s start with that looming existential dread, since it\u2019s probably the most pandemic-specific contributor to your tossing and turning. The bad news is, you\u2019re probably stuck with it, at least until a vaccine arrives.<\/p>\n You can still take steps to\u00a0manage<\/em>\u00a0it, though, especially as night falls. And it starts with not doing anything at all. \u201cMake sure you have a scheduled hour of \u2018me time,\u2019\u201d particularly if you\u2019re sheltering in place with others,\u201d says Medalie. \u201cEverybody needs at least one hour by themselves.\u201d<\/p>\n How you spend that time is up to you. But as you get closer to bedtime, make sure it\u2019s genuinely relaxing. \u201dInstead of watching or reading the news\u2014most content is repetitive anyway\u2014engage in quiet, calming activities under dim lighting, such as reading, talking with family or friends, or listening to music,\u201d says Alfano.<\/p>\n This all might sound easier said than done. But small adjustments can make a big difference. Don\u2019t bring your smartphone into the bedroom, for starters, or tablets or laptops or any screens at all. If you have a TV in there, consider jettisoning it. Alfanso suggests putting all your charging cords in the kitchen, and setting a reminder for an hour before bedtime to plug in all your electronics and bid them adieu until the morning. Old-school alarm clocks still exist! And some even have built-in light functions designed to help you sleep and wake up on a regular schedule. (WIRED recommends the\u00a0Homelabs Sunrise Alarm Clock, but you\u2019ve got\u00a0no shortage of options.)<\/p>\n Northwestern\u2019s Ong also researches how mindfulness techniques can improve sleep, especially for those with chronic insomnia. \u201cIt can be a potential tool to help reduce that vigilance, give your brain some signals that it doesn\u2019t need to go into that fight-or-flight mode, or that if it does, here are some tools to help decompress, so that you have a more fair chance for your sleep system to help you fall asleep and stay asleep,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n A simple way to start is to think of yourself as a trainspotter. (Presumably not one from the\u00a01996 Danny Boyle film.) Much like a trainspotter observes railcars passing by from a distance, try to observe what\u2019s happening in your mind without directly engaging with it. If you do find yourself boarding at some point, just get off at the next station. \u201cAs you do that, you will start to train yourself that it\u2019s OK to focus on this present moment,\u201d says Ong.<\/p>\n Apps also offer an entry point to anxiety-quashing meditation, although that complicates the whole \u201cremove the phone from the bedroom\u201d scenario. WIRED contributors have\u00a0had some success\u00a0with\u00a0Calm, which offers a range of soothing sessions. Even Swiss Army workout app\u00a0Peloton has a sleep meditation section, including at least one class specifically designed for the 3 am wake-up.<\/p>\n Getting good sleep involves more than just clearing your head. The experts WIRED spoke with all agree that clearing your bedroom is just as important. \u201cThe bedroom should just be a bedroom. Just a room for your bed, and maybe your dresser, and nothing else in there,\u201d says Medalie. \u201cSleep and sex are the only two things that should happen in the bedroom.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5348,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[3438,3448,3439,3446,3447],"class_list":["post-5347","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-common-sleep-disorder","tag-experts-dr-sleep-charts-advise","tag-insomnia-difficulty-sleeping","tag-insomnia-poor-sleeping-habits","tag-insomnia-sleep-disorder"],"yoast_head":"\n