I'm finding it difficult to sleep...

These times in light of the pandemic may seem difficult for you, as you hope these days pass by quickly, and for life to return as good as it was to its normal pace. In light of the pandemic, there has been an influx of news about the Corona virus, which has made it difficult to think of anything else. In turn, this may make it difficult to stay calm, focused and you may even take the unease with you to bed. This increased anxiety about the current situation may cause disturbances in your sleeping patterns. In this page, we have explained why this may occur and compiled a few tips that may be beneficial for you. If the problem in sleep has been ongoing for over a week and has caused a huge impact on your daily functioning, we would recommend that you get in touch with a professional or get in touch with the support service on this site and they will guide you on what you can do.

What is insomnia?

Experiencing disturbances in sleep, such as having trouble sleeping or waking up several times during the night and feeling tired after waking up. All of this may improve after changing some habits before bed.

The effect of insomnia on your physical & mental health

Feeling confused & forgetful

If you feel like your memory has become distorted and you are not able to remember a lot of things, this may be because you are not getting enough sleep. Sleep is directly related to memory, during sleep the brain works to reconsolidate itself and replenish its cells.

Feeling stressed & nervous

Everyone is exposed to psychological stressors during the day, but the ability of each individual differs in how to deal with and adapt to these stressors. Individuals who obtain enough sleep are more powerful and flexible in dealing with any problem or any pressures they faces, unlike individuals who do not sleep well at night, where they may become nervous or agitated during the day.

Feeling the desire to eat more food

There is a relationship between lack of sleep and an increase in appetite. If you stay up a lot every day, this means that you burn a large number of calories, which leads to extreme hunger to compensate for the lost calories. Therefore, it is preferable to go to bed and wake up in the morning with fixed dates as possible, and avoid using mobile phones before bed. This works to alert the mind and therefore it is difficult to go to sleep early.

Slow motor skills & reflexes

When you are physically exhausted, your movement and reactions become slow, and this can be seen when you are driving a car or if something were to fall off your hands, such as a pen or a mobile phone. It has also been noted that there is a state of inactivity and laziness in the muscles of the body and an inability to carry things as usual.

Lack of sleep may lead to many diseases

Not getting enough hours of sleep makes you susceptible to many diseases such as blood pressure, high blood sugar, and a weak immune system.

Loss of focus

Lack of sleep not only affects motor skills and memory, but also makes you lose the ability to focus both in your work and in your studies. Have you ever had the experience of sitting for hours trying to do something or absorb something and you find yourself unable to accomplish the task? This is certainly because the brain has not got enough rest that enables it to carry out its daily tasks of comprehension.

Lack of sleep affects the mood

Lack of sleep may lead to disturbances in mood. It may make it harder for individuals to control their nerves, making them more vulnerable to anger and stress.

How can I sleep quickly ?!

Practice Meditation:

Yoga or meditation are techniques that help calm the mind and relax the body, relieving you of accumulated tension. Meditation also helps to enhance the level of the hormone melatonin, which helps you fall asleep more easily.

You can use these links to guide you with meditation:

Surrendering

One of the solutions to sleep is to stop for a moment from forcing yourself to sleep firmly, surrender yourself for a moment without making any attempt to sleep, or struggle with oneself.

Avoid naps during the day

People tend to sleep during the day due to the lack of sleep at night due to insomnia, and these daytime naps often end up affecting night sleep as well. Some studies have shown that regular and long periods of late naps may cause problems in night sleep that may cause disturbances.

Avoid having caffeine before bed

Sleep can be accelerated by avoiding foods and beverages that contain caffeine, especially five to six hours before bedtime.

Adjust sleep and waking times

It is possible to improve sleep quality by organizing your sleep and wake times, and adopting the same times every day even on weekends. This is because the body has an internal biological clock that adjusts sleeping times. Find out more about the biological clock here:

Maintain room temperature

An individual can fall asleep faster if the room temperature is suitable for sleep. Therefore, lower room temperature can reduce the body's basic temperature, and thus help sleep, and the ideal temperature for sleep is 25 ° C.

CBT sleep solutions:

Diary Writing

Try writing in your journal for 5-10 minutes before bed. Instead of focusing on what you accomplished during the day or what you are grateful for, write your to-do list for tomorrow, because this may be what keeps you awake at night, the endless task list and deadlines. You can use an electronic memo to help you.

Create a routine

Sleeping is easy. If a sleep pattern has already been established at a regular time, be careful not to do anything that might disturb your sleep time later - like eating a heavy meal too late or consuming too much caffeine.

Avoid Technology

Don't use gadgets like cell phones or laptops within an hour of sleep, as the brightness of the screens can increase your wakefulness and thus affect the quality of your sleep. You can do some gentle stretching or read a book to keep your mind focused and reduce any anxiety.

Try to shutdown

Set aside sometime in the early evening to prepare everything and review your concerns for no more than 15-30 minutes; Then it stops. If you find yourself going back to the topic in bed - just address yourself and say "I did it" - and go.