Due to the multifaceted consequences of the pandemic, numerous people are losing jobs or facing crisis in their career and family lives. As the educational institutes are closed, many students are getting addicted to technology, like virtual gaming on smartphones, which is disrupting their daily life activities and diet. All of these problems are causing depression and anxiety in people which is eventually leading to sleeplessness. Chronic sleep disorder or insomnia can make your body more vulnerable to the life-threatening COVID19 disease. Read this article to know how to sleep well during the pandemic.

Why is Sleep Important during a Pandemic?

Sleep Fosters Immune System

Still today, the immunity system is your only weapon to fight against the attack of Coronavirus. Solid sleep at night can strengthen the natural immune system of your body; but how?

Research shows that sleep can foster T Cell production in the human body. T Cells are a kind of white blood cell that controls how your immune system is going to respond when any virus enters your body. Sleep deprivation can prevent 'T Cells' from responding efficiently which eventually makes it more difficult for the immune system of your body to kill the antigen virus and fight back against illnesses.

Furthermore, when you can successfully complete the four sleep cycles, your body can effectively produce and release a kind of essential protein substance called cytokine that can assist your immune system to respond against antigens quickly.

Sleep Improves Brain Function & Mental Health

When you get good sleep, your mind can work better in doing complex thinking, learning, memorizing, and decision-making. For both kids and adults, regular sound sleep not only enhances mood, and prevents anxiety but also keeps the energy level high and helps them stay sharp.

How to Improve Sleep Quality

Establish Regular Bedtime Schedule

Your internal circadian rhythm – which is also known as sleep/wake cycle or biological body clock – can naturally regulate the feelings of sleepiness and wakefulness throughout the day. If you can maintain a regular routine of bedtime and wakeup time for 7 days in every week, it can help your body clock work accordingly. Try not to break up the routine on weekends. Thus, you can have sound sleep every day amid pandemic.

Expose Yourself in Natural Sunlight

Try to spend some time under bright sunlight during the morning. If you are locked down inside your home to prevent the virus contraction, then keep your windows opened to expose yourself to sunlight for at least the early hours of the day. This can improve your mood and help to regulate your circadian rhythms or body clock.

In addition to this, to have a better sleep at night, you need to limit the light exposure in the evening, especially from electronic devices, like a laptop, desktop, or Smartphone. It would be more effective if you can change the brightness of your device by activating “night mode” apps or features. This simple trick can reduce the lags of your brain preventing disturbances in your body clock. Thus, you can improve your sleep in the long term.

Avoid Daytime Naps

Due to the body clock (circadian rhythm), the adults may feel sleepy at day time at 2 or 3 pm and fall asleep at late night around 2 or 3 pm.  To maintain a healthy sleep routine, you must avoid taking short naps during the afternoon or other periods in the day time.

However, if you have a very little sleep on the previous night, you can make an exception to break the routine. Regular daytime naps can reduce your body’s necessity of sleep can lead to insomnia.

Read Coronavirus Tips: Immunity Booster Herbal Teas to Prevent Infection.

Do Some Physical Exercise

As health experts are encouraging people to stay at home and maintain social distancing, the normal pace of life has been hampered. Many people are avoiding their respective regular outdoor physical activities – like walking, jogging, swimming, playing or going to the gym – and investing more time on screen for watching TV, Netflix, or checking social media, which is hampering their sleep time. If you can do some indoor physical exercise or Yoga every day, it would help you to build up enough body fatigue to fall asleep quite easily. Thus, you can enjoy better sleep.

Read Which Type of Yoga Should You Try?

Handle Your Anxiety

Watching regular news to know how many people are getting affected or dying of COVID19 can enhance your worry. It can not only hamper your daily activities but also disturb your sleep on a regular basis. To avoid negative news you can limit your news exposure. If you are experiencing anxiety, do not hesitate to share your problems with family members, friends, or doctors.

You need to strengthen your bonding with family members to uplift your spirits and reduce anxiety. Besides this, you have to accept the fact that you may not have good sleep every night. Therefore, do not push yourself for sleep; rather try to manage your anxiety in a proper way.

Read How to Handle Your Coronavirus Anxiety during Home Quarantine?

Look into Your Diet

A healthy diet can improve your quality of sleep. Try to avoid drinking tea or coffee during the evening or night hours, as the caffeine can stimulate your nerve and delay sleep in the night. However, if you cannot avoid caffeine after sunset, you can opt for organic teas – like Chamomile tea – which can naturally enhance the quality of your sleep. Furthermore, eating heavy meals before going to bed can also hamper your sleep.

Read Post Meal Bad Habits: Things You Must Avoid Right After Eating Meal.

Avoid Electronic Devices before Bedtime

The human brain works like a computer. Usually, the brain tends to relate to bed and darkness with falling asleep. This function of the brain can be disrupted if you engage with any activity like video games, physical activity, or surfing the internet before bedtime. To sleep like a baby, you need to avoid those devices at least 90 minutes before your scheduled sleep time. However, if you have an important office or business task, try to set them aside from a minimum of 30 minutes before going to bed.

However, if you cannot feel sleepy within 15 to 30 minutes after going to bed, try something soothing, like reading a book or listening to relaxing music until you fall asleep.

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We all have that one friend or acquaintance who sleeps peacefully at night but keeps others awake the whole night with the sound of snoring.

Although snoring can be largely harmless, it can be a nuisance for others, especially your partner or the person you’re sharing the bed with.

But fortunately, there are some things that can be done to lessen the problem, if not solving it altogether.

You should start by making changes to your lifestyle and try some simple home remedies to alleviate the problem. There are some products that are marketed as ‘stop-snoring’ items. You can try them too.

But it is likely that you have sleep apnea if you snore and also wake up gasping for air or frequently feel sleepy or tired during the day. Sleep apnea can cause hypertension and more serious medical problems.

Please consult a doctor immediately if your snoring affects the quality of your sleep.

Lifestyle changes and home remedies

You should consider giving the following suggestions a shot to keep your airway open during sleep.

Quit smoking. Apart from numerous negative health effects, people who smoke are also more likely to snore. In fact, even secondhand smoke may increase your risk of snoring.

Avoiding alcohol is the best option but if you still choose to drink, consider not drinking alcohol within three hours of bedtime. This will help prevent your airway muscles from becoming slack when you sleep, reports Harvard Health Publishing.

Do not take medications that relax your muscles in the evening. Like alcohol, some drugs may relax muscles in the throat.

Try exercising to lose some weight if you are overweight or obese. Extra fat tissue in the neck and throat can narrow the airways. Losing weight could help open the airways for someone who is overweight or obese.

But this doesn’t necessarily mean that only obese people snore. Many people who are lean also snore.

You may also try home remedies for nasal obstruction issues. If your nose is stuffy due to mucus, try rinsing your sinuses with saline. If you have allergies, reduce dust mites and pet dander in your bedroom or use an allergy medication.

A humidifier or medication may reduce swelling of swollen nasal tissues.

Sleep on your side or elevate your head. Sleeping on your side may help because when you sleep flat on your back, your tongue falls back and presses against the top of your airway.

To help you stay on your side, try pressing a body pillow (a long, oversized pillow) against your back. You can try elevating your head by using an extra pillow or a wedge pillow.

The multidimensional effects of the COVID19 pandemic have affected the lives and livelihoods of numerous people. After the lockdown period, mass people are trying to return to their normal pace of life. Everyday people throng the roads to commute their respective workplaces. Traveling by a personal or rented vehicle like a car can be a safer option; as the public transports are rarely maintaining social distancing rules. Whether you use a car for you, family members, or rented passengers, you need to disinfect the vehicle properly. Read this article to know how to disinfect your car to prevent COVID19 contraction.

How to Clean Coronavirus from Your Car

Disinfect Interior and Exterior Parts of Your Car

When you are commuting at your destination by car, pay your attention to virus preventive hygiene measures. Before you start the journey, it is essential to disinfect all the commonly touchable surfaces in your car. The disinfection process must be repeated after the end of your journey, especially when you share the car with other people like relatives, friends, colleagues, or rented passengers.

Parts of Car Interior You Should Disinfect

-          Steering Wheel

-          Steering Column Stalk

-          Gear Stick

-          Hand Brake

-          Radio Controls

-          Infotainment Controls

-          Windscreen

-          Wipers

-          Indicators

-          Cruise Control

-          Elbow Rests

-          Seat position Controls

Read How Long Does Coronavirus Survive on Different Surfaces and Air?

Parts of Car Exterior You Should Disinfect

-          Door Handles

-          Door Frame

-          Luggage Compartment Handle

The disinfection process is mandatory for taxi drivers or CAB drivers who transport multiple passengers every day.

What Should You Use to Disinfect Your Car?

To disinfect the interior and exterior parts of your car, you can apply cleaning products that are already available at your home. You may already know that the alcohol solutions (at least 70 percent) are effective to kill the traces of coronavirus.

Usually, the carmakers and their subcontractors use isopropyl alcohol to clean the surfaces of the car. You can also apply this solution to disinfect the commonly touchable interior and exterior surfaces of your car. For added safety, you can wipe down the seat upholstery and other soft surfaces in the car using alcohol; but try not to soak those places.

However, if you are not an expert in automobile cleaning, never apply hydrogen peroxide, as it can damage the surface areas of your adorable car. You should also avoid applying ammonium contained cleaning products on the touch screens of your car.

For any cleaning method, try to use a foam brush or Microfiber cloth. And, carry out the cleaning process gently. Terribly rigorous cleaning with alcohol may discolor the materials and parts of your car.

If you are using the air condition system in your car, make sure you clean the vents properly using the heater duct cleaner. To disinfect the germs and viruses from the air condition unit, it would be ideal to apply any specialized spray for cleaning air condoning and ventilation systems of the car.

Read Online Pharmacy: Where to Buy Medicine in Dhaka during Coronavirus Home Quarantine

Apply Personal Protective Gear

When you are traveling with other passengers, you put yourself at risk of coming into contact with a COVID19 infected person. Therefore, while you transport other persons in your car, wear a facemask. Moreover, you should not allow any passenger to enter your car without wearing a face mask. For precautions, you can carry some additional face masks inside the first aid kit of your car.

Read Post Lockdown Safety Precautions to Prevent COVID19 Contraction.

Allow Air-Passing in Your Car

To portray the risk of coronavirus contraction while traveling by car, scientists have designed a simple model scenario: riding in the same car for about 72 minutes with a COVID19 infected passenger who has no visible symptoms except simple coughs.

To minimize the risk of coronavirus contraction in your car, you need to keep the windows open for 3-inches at least.

How to Use Air Conditioning in Car?

It would be better if you can avoid using the air condition system in your car during the current pandemic situation. If you still want to apply the air conditioning, make sure your car is not in ‘recirculation air mode’. Instead, opt for the mode that allows the inflow of fresh outdoor air. Keep the car-windows slightly open. Besides this, everyone in the car should wear a mask. These precautions must be followed in taxis, CABs, or ride-share vehicles.

Read How to Use ACs (Air Conditioners) Safely Amid COVID19 Pandemic?

Fill Up Fuel Tank Safely

When you take the car to a petrol filling station do not forget the virus precautions. Wear a facemask while contacting with the staff and try to keep the distance. If possible, choose a filling station where COVID19 preventive measures have been followed in a proper way. After paying your bills disinfect your hands immediately. It would be clever to keep your tank full so that you can avoid visiting the petrol station frequently.

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Consumption of a balanced diet is the key to health. Besides this, drinking adequate water, taking shower, getting proper sleep, doing regular work outs are essential to keep your body sound, functional, and healthy. However, sometimes these actions can defer your body to get the best out of your food and make your sick. Yes! We are talking about some usual post-meal habits that can harm your body instead of doing well. Read this article, to know which things you should never do right after eating a full meal.

Post Meal Harmful Habits You Need to Avoid

Drinking Water

Drinking water one glass of water 30 minutes after a meal aids in digesting the food properly. But drinking excess water right after eating food can hamper your digestion process. Because presence of too much water in your stomach tends to dilute the essential gastric juices and creates an upsurge in your insulin levels.  

Besides this, if you drink chilled water immediately after having a full meal, it can result in food-clumping inside your stomach and hamper your digestion process.

Doing Exercise

Your body requires some times for digesting food before you can start a work out. If you start working out right after having a full meal, it can disrupt your digestive process. Furthermore, a post-meal quick workout session can cause vomiting, stomach inflammation, loose motions, etc.

Going for High intensity workout immediately after eating food might be more harmful. To participate in any high intensity training, you must wait for at least 45 minutes after heavy meal to avoid stomach cramps and feeling sick.

Walking, Jumping or Running

Though health experts always recommend walking as a healthy habit, post-meal walking habit can cause acid reflux leading to indigestion. It would be better, if you can wait for at least 30-minute post meals before you go for a brisk walk.

Though jumping is not high-intensity workout, it runs the risk of increasing your heart rate and jostling your body including stomach. It can also interrupt the process of digestion.

Running right away after a meal is not recommended either. If you start running with a full tummy, you can experience lethargy, stomach cramping followed by digestive disorders.

Swimming

Swimming gives relief in hot humid days. But never think of swimming right after having a full meal. If you jump into the water on a full stomach, you could feel cramps. It can also create the risk of drowning.

Going to Sleep

After having a full meal, it is quite tempting to take a short nap. But this simple habit can harm your health. Falling into sleep soon after eating can lead towards heartburns, snoring, sleep apnea, etc. Therefore, you have to fight against the habit of post-meal nap to maintain health.

Eating Fruits

Fruits are rich sources of vitamins, nutrients and minerals. But your body can hardly extract these benefits from fruits, if consumed right after eating a full meal. When you eat fruits after a heavy meal, it tends to clump with the food. Instead of being processed, the ingested fruit particles may start to decompose in your stomach and produce gas. The best time of eating fruit is one hour before having meal or two hours after.

Taking Tea or Coffee

Tea carries phenolic compounds which can inhibit the process of iron absorption in the body. Therefore, habit of drinking tea immediately after meal can lead towards iron deficiency in your body causing low hemoglobin level in blood.

Having coffee immediately after eating is also not a good idea, as Coffee can slow down your the absorb process of minerals and iron in your body.

However, you can opt for green tea, ginger tea or other herbal teas after your meals to improve your digestion process.

Read: Easy Homemade Drinks to Boost Up Digestion Power Naturally.

Loosening Belt

Many of people do this secretly! In fact, it is a sign of overeating. The habit of loosening the belt creates room for the intestines to bend which can hamper the digestion process. Moreover, this habit can loosen your abdominal muscles which may result into a fat bulky belly. Therefore, you should eat moderately so that you don’t feel the urge of loosening belt.

Taking Shower

When you take a shower immediately after having your meal, the blood flow tends to rush to your skin in order to regulate the temperature of your body. It can hamper the process of digestion. However, if you are feeling the urge of taking shower, wait for least 30 minutes after eating a full meal.

Smoking

Many people are fond of smoking cigarette after having a full meal. Smoking is detrimental to your health, regardless of the time. The damage could be more intense, if done immediately after eating. Post-meal smoking habit can worsen the irritable bowel syndrome, cause ulcerative colitis and many more illnesses.

Brushing Teeth

It is a good habit to brush your teeth before going to bed. But teeth can get damaged, if you start brushing right after consuming highly acidic foods. The act of teeth-brushing after meal can pose threat to the enamel layer of your teeth. It would be a good idea, to wait for minimum 30 minutes for post meal teeth-brushing.

Driving

When you eat food, it naturally increases the blood supply to your digestive tract. Consequently, the supply of blood to your brain gets affected, which may influence your ability to concentrate. Thereby, it is not a good idea to hit the wheel immediately after eating a full meal. You should wait for at least 30 minutes for better focus and concentration which can ensure safe driving.

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About a dozen different vaccines of Coronavirus are in various stages of testing worldwide, including in Britain, China and the US.

Dr Anthony Fauci, the top US infectious disease expert, this week said he is cautiously optimistic there will be a COVID-19 vaccine by the end of the year or early 2021.

Several wealthy countries have already ordered millions of doses of those experimental vaccines.

Britain and the US, for example, have invested in a vaccine candidate being developed by Oxford University and produced by AstraZeneca. If it works, UK politicians have said Britons will be vaccinated with it. The US expects to start stockpiling it this fall and also has invested in other vaccine candidates.

Groups including the vaccine alliance GAVI are also working to buy doses for poor countries and AstraZeneca has agreed to license its vaccine to India’s Serum Institute for the production of 1 billion doses.

The World Health Organization (WHO) is drafting guidelines for the ethical distribution of COVID-19 vaccines.

How vaccines are distributed within a country will vary. Last week, U.S. officials said they were developing a tiered system that would likely prioritize groups at greatest risk of severe complications from COVID-19 and key workers.