How to sleep well during confinement

It  goes without saying that, for most of us, daily life looks significantly different right now. All the changes that come with confinement can also have a big impact on our sleep, which plays an important role in our physical and mental health. 

To help you take care of your sleep during confinement/lockdown/shelter-in-place, one of Dreem’s resident psychologists and CBT-I experts has the following advice for you:  

6 sleep tips for confinement

• Get a little sunlight every morning. This helps your body to wake up and boosts your biological clock. If direct sunlight isn’t an option where you are, try using a light therapy lamp for 20-30 minutes every morning. 
• Take it easy with screen-time, especially before bed. Even if screen-time seems more tempting than ever right now, try to avoid it in the hour leading up to bed time.  A lot of screens like laptops, smartphones or tablet devices use blue light which can inhibit your brain’s production of melatonin (the sleep hormone), potentially impacting the quality of your sleep. 
• A little exercise can go a long way.  Try to keep up regular exercise particularly in the morning and not too close to bedtime. By staying active in the day, you’re helping to build up your sleep pressure, which will make falling asleep and staying asleep easier.
• Regularity is sleep’s best friend. Try to keep set times for work, meals, activities, as well as bedtime and wake-up time.
• Too much sleep has the opposite effect. Oftentimes, we think that it’s easy to catch up on sleep by sleeping in on the weekend. Unfortunately it doesn’t work like that, and the extra sleep we can potentially gain isn’t restorative. If you want to take a nap and sleep well at night, stick to 20 minutes in the early afternoon.
• Make time for you and have some fun. Give yourself time to explore hobbies and disconnect. You can also try simple relaxation techniques before bed to help you fall asleep with a calm mind and body.  

We hope this helps in some small way as you stay at home. Take care and sleep well!