Some countries have faced multiple lockdown phases and studies have shown that it affects sleep in many negative ways. Studies have shown that levels of depression and anxiety have escalated since the pandemic started, many worrying about their job, health, and loved ones. Sleep has often been overlooked, and an increasing amount of exposure to screens as people are confined at home can snowball into an unhealthy lifestyle. With these tips, here is how to improve sleep should you face another lockdown.

How to improve the quality of your sleep?

Organize a proper sleep schedule

When stuck at home, it becomes easy to lose a sense of structure in your day-to-day schedule, which often leads to either an alteration of sleep timings or a reduced/added amount of sleep. Acclimatizing to a fixed routine makes it easier for the body to adapt to a consistent amount of time to rest.

Setting the alarm and making it a point to wake up is important to jumpstart your body to a familiar environment. Winding down is just as important as you want to enable your body to relax when it is time to sleep. Changing to sleeping attire, brushing of teeth, reading and meditation are all good ways to ease the mind and body.

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Only use your bed for sleeping

Conditioning the mind to correlate the bed to sleep is a scientifically proven deed that helps more than one might realize. Working or watching videos from the bed puts the body into a similar “wind-down” state that can easily be mistaken for the requirement to sleep.

To get rid of Insomnia or sleeplessness, don't use any electronic gadget for at least two hours before going to bed. Disassociating all things that are not sleep-related from the bed will definitely help when it truly is time for preparing to rest.

Exposure to sunlight

One thing the lockdowns in 2020, has taught us is how susceptible to stress people can be when confined into isolation within a long period of time. Surprisingly, exposure to sunlight can be the elixir we never thought we needed. The body has a “circadian rhythm” that regulates its sleep cycle based on the time of day - think biological clock. Exposure to sunlight can help the body feel energized and helps it to clearly define its sleep-wake cycle.

However, the blue light that comes from screens may interfere with this process, so it is best to moderate for the best results.

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Moderating or Avoiding Naps

The temptation to sleep when working from home is not to be underestimated. Many naps are done on a whim and not so much planned with a cohesive sleep schedule in mind. Because of this, napping should only be 20 minutes max in order to avoid disrupting a healthy sleep schedule.

Napping has its own perks like giving better alertness, memory formation, and emotional regulation. Ideally, naps should serve a function if your sleep schedule was disrupted previously - but not recommended to do it at the spur of the moment.

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Monitoring Your Diet

Caffeine and alcohol are the number one culprits of sleep deprivation and require strict moderation in order to maintain a decent sleep pattern. Alternatively, foods that are rich in vitamins and minerals that have a history of improving sleep include Kiwi, cherry juice, fish, and nuts. Based on academic surveys that display the correlation between a surplus of antioxidants, Vitamins C. E, Omega-3 fatty acids help consumers adjust better into a regulated sleep cycle.

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