Hyderabad: During this lockdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic, many people, especially the young adults have been constantly talking about their changed sleeping patterns. 2 am to 11 am are the new sleeping hours, which in turn, are responsible for a disturbing daily routine and sleep cycle and people becoming more lazy and unwilling to do anything that keeps them active. They tend to spend most of their time binge-watching, binge eating or simply lazing out on couches or bed with their smartphones.
Dr Phani Prasant, Consultant Psychiatrist at Chetana Hospital, Hyderabad says, "There is something called 'Sleep Hygiene', which needs to be maintained by everyone to be relaxed throughout the day and to be fit and active".
So, he recommends the following Sleep Management tips to be followed, for a good sleep and proper sleeping hours:
1. Wake up and sleep time should be constant and fixed. It is important that the timings are not varied too much every day, which will ultimately disturb our sleep cycle.
2. Control the urge to sleep again if you are awake once, even if you feel lazy or feel like you haven't slept enough. Although, you can take a nap during the noon, but not for more than an hour.
3. Try to maintain a daily routine. It can be similar to what it was before lockdown. Indulge in some activities during the working hours if you don’t have office work and keep yourself distracted.
4. Eat proper food at the proper time. Have your dinner at least 2 hours prior to the sleeping time. Do not sleep immediately after having a meal.
5. Have a well balanced and nutritious diet, not very high in carbs and sugar.
6. Physical activities are very important in maintaining a sleep cycle. Doing yoga, aerobics and other exercises, while staying indoors will be helpful. But it should be practised early in the morning or in the evening, but not close to sleep time.
7. The bed is only for sleeping. Try to avoid talking, using gadgets and changing positions continuously once you are in bed. If you can’t sleep, get out of the bed.
8. If you can’t sleep, try doing something that doesn’t interest you much. Starting a web series or a movie is a big no. Instead, read a book that you have already read or an article that doesn’t interest you much, anything that is less stimulating.
9. Try avoiding anything stimulating right before sleeping. Switch off the TV one hour before your sleep time to relax your eyes, rather than it sending signals to the brain to be awake and keep watching something interesting.
10. Avoid any stimulating drink, like caffeine or alcohol during late evening or night. Having a lot of tea or coffee causes alertness in the person and affects our sleep.
"It is also important to make the bedroom cosier and keep it away from any kind of distractions like a TV. The moment you enter the bedroom and sit on the bed, you should associate it solely with sleep. If you associate some other activities with your bed than sleeping, you are highly unlikely to get the feeling of sleeping while going towards the bed," says Dr Prasant. Therefore, it becomes important to keep away from all the distractions during your sleep time or you might yet again end up binge-watching a web series and going to sleep during sunrise.
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