Tips for better sleep during Covid
Try to keep a regular night time and wake-wup time schedule: always get up at more or less the same time, bring some structure to the day, particularly for children. Schedule brief times
(for example, 15 minutes) during the day to stress and reflect upon the situation: write thoughts down, talk about stress. Try to restrict your thinking about these things to specific times to reduce the chance that this stress interferes with night-time sleep. If possible, use your bed only for sleep and sex, and for no other activity; this is best achieved by only going to bed when you feel sleepy.
Use the current opportunity to follow your natural sleep rhythm closer, in particular for evening types and adolescents.
Use this opportunity to allow your sleep period to fit more with your natural circadian preference (for example, for an earlier or later sleep wake timing than is typically allowed, particularly for adolescents, older adults and evening types.
Use social media to share feelings of stress and anxiety with family and friends, but also to share distracting positive information like humour or material that is totally unrelated to the pandemic. Do not take devices and tablets into the bedroom. Switch them off before going to bed to reduce sleep disruption due to light exposure, notifications and the need to respond to requests and posts Find helpful distractions, keep busy with those activities you are familiar with and enjoy doing.
Limit the amount of time you are exposed to news about Covid-19. If you can afford it, make your home, and bedroom in particular, a more comfortable, quiet, dark and cool environment. Exercise regularly, preferably in daylight.
Try to get natural light during the day, particularly in the morning , and if that is impossible then get light into your home in the daytime by opening the blinds and curtains or having lights on. Try to have dim light during the evening and then darker again at night.
Choose familiar and relaxing activities before bedtime such as reading and yoga.
If you are less active during the day than normal, eat less at mealtimes and,at the latest, two hours before desired sleep onset.