Resources

Sleep-specific aspects of your daily schedule should include:

• Wake-Up Time: Set your alarm, bypass the snooze button, and have a fixed time to get every day started.
• Wind-Down Time: This is an important time to relax and get ready for bed. It can involve things like light reading, stretching, and meditating along with preparations for bed like putting on pajamas and brushing your teeth. Given the stressors of life, it’s wise to give yourself extra wind-down time each night.
• Bedtime: Pick a consistent time to actually turn out the lights and try to fall asleep.

In addition to time spent sleeping and getting ready for bed, it can be helpful to incorporate steady routines to provide time cues throughout the day, including:

• Showering and getting dressed even if you aren’t leaving the house.
• Eating meals at the same time each day.
• Blocking off specific time periods for work and exercise.

Sleep experts emphasize the importance of creating an association in your mind between your bed and sleep. For this reason, they recommend that sleep and sex be the only activities that take place in your bed.

This means that working-from-home shouldn’t be working-from-bed. It also means avoiding bringing a laptop into bed to watch a movie or series.

On any given night, if you find that you’re having a hard time sleeping, don’t spend more than 20 minutes tossing and turning. Instead, get out of bed and do something relaxing in very low light, and then head back to bed to try to fall asleep.

Frequently changing your sheets, fluffing your pillows, and making your bed can keep your bed feeling fresh, creating a comfortable and inviting setting to doze off. If you’ve been considering refreshing your bedroom setup with a brand new mattress, sheets, or anything other sleep products that need an upgrade, now might be the time to consider doing so.

Exposure to light plays a crucial role in helping our bodies regulate sleep in a healthy way. As you deal with disruptions to daily life, you may need to take steps so that light-based cues have a positive effect on your circadian rhythm.

• If you can, spend some time outside in natural light. Even if the sun isn’t shining brightly, natural light still has positive effects on circadian rhythm. Many people find outdoor time is most beneficial in the morning, and as an added bonus, it’s an opportunity to get fresh air.
• As much as possible, open windows and blinds to let light into your home during the day.
• Be mindful of screen time. The blue light produced by electronic devices, such as mobile phones, tablets, and computers, has been found to interfere with the body’s natural sleep-promoting processes. As much as possible, avoid using these devices for an hour before bed. You can also use device settings or special apps that reduce or filter blue light.

If you’re home all day, you may be tempted to take more naps. While a short power nap early in the afternoon can be useful to some people, it’s best to avoid long naps or naps later in the day that can hinder nighttime sleep.

Physical activity can help you sleep better in a variety of ways. First, it increases the production of melatonin, a hormone that regulates sleep-wake cycles. As a result, physical activity can assist in falling asleep faster and sleeping better. Second, physical activity reduces stress, which is a typical impediment to falling and staying asleep. Third, physical activity improves mood, leading to increased enthusiasm for physical exercise and a positive feedback loop. 

It was shown that active people had higher levels of positive affect and tranquility during exercise and lower levels of negative affect and tiredness. Finally, physical activity helps to regulate body temperature, which is necessary for falling asleep, as an increase in body temperature during physical activity aids the eventual drop 30-90 minutes post-exercises, facilitating easier sleepiness.

Finding ways to relax can be a potent tool in improving your sleep. Deep breathing, stretching, yoga, mindfulness meditation, calming music, and quiet reading are just a few examples of relaxation techniques that you can build into your routines. If you’re not sure where to get started, check out smartphone apps like Headspace and Calm that have programs designed for people new to meditation.

Another relaxation strategy  is to avoid becoming overwhelmed by the news. For example, you can try techniques including:

• Bookmarking one or two trusted news sites and visiting them only during a limited, pre-set amount of time each day.
• Cutting down the total time that you spend scrolling on social media. If you want a hand in this effort, a number of apps can monitor and even block your time on social media sites or apps each day.
• Scheduling phone or video calls with friends and family.

Keeping a healthy diet can promote good sleep. In particular, be cautious with the intake of alcohol and caffeine, especially later in the day, as both can disrupt the quantity and quality of your sleep.

If you have severe or worsening sleep or other health problems, it is advisable to be in touch with your doctor. Many doctors are increasing availability via email or telemedicine to allow patients to discuss concerns without having to physically visit their office.