Confinement can affect our rest, as the loss of habits has a direct impact on the total hours we sleep and the quality of our sleep. Without routines, we have seen our day-to-day life greatly altered, causing insomnia. It is important to remember that proper rest is essential for both our physical and mental health.
Some of the factors that, as we will see below, have a direct impact on our sleep are: decreased sun exposure, anxiety disorders and more time spent glued to screens, according to Javier Puertas, vice-president of the Spanish Sleep Society (SES).
Sunlight is vital for the circadian rhythms of human beings, which affect our behavior and physiology through the stimuli produced by darkness and luminosity. In addition, not being able to leave the house can generate anxiety and stress. These people will have more difficulty falling asleep, accompanied by sleepless nights, explains Diego Redolar, neuroscientist at the Universitat Oberta de Catalunya (UOC). Poor sleep causes more irritability, a downcast mood and anxiety,” Redolar adds.
Not being able to leave the house can provoke this feeling, especially when there is a perception of loss of control over one’s life. “In these cases, brain regions are activated, such as an almond-shaped structure called the amygdala, which during the night can interfere with the quality of our sleep. These people find it more difficult to sleep and wake up more during the night,” says the expert.
On the other hand, there is a brain structure that warns our body that we should go to rest because it is dark, secreting the melatonin hormone, the pineal gland. And counterproductively, since the beginning of quarantine, the use of cell phones and technological devices has skyrocketed. These devices emit the well-known blue light, which prevents the release of melatonin.
Furthermore, these time changes do not favor cognitive aspects such as memory or attention at all. In older people and children, these symptoms are even more pronounced. Redolar explains that this is because “as the brain does not receive external signals to regulate the biological clock, there may be greater difficulty in adapting to the new schedule”.
In this sense, it is advisable to activate ourselves using strategies that help us to conceal the confinement: establish routines, eating and sleeping hours; dress and groom ourselves properly; read, do some exercise, take a hot bath before going to sleep, etc.
Last but not least, we must follow a healthy and balanced diet, avoiding ultra-processed, fried and fatty foods. This type of diet favors bad rest. On the other hand, a diet rich in fruits, vegetables and proteins will help us to maintain vitality, despite not moving from our four walls.
The following are the most advisable guidelines, according to experts, to emotionally manage the anxiety caused by the confinement and the fear of the coronavirus pandemic. All of them will allow us to enjoy a better rest and to fall asleep more easily.
General recommendations
- Follow some daily routines to set our internal clock in time.
- Get up and go to bed at the same time, set schedules, etc.
- Eating properly
- Do not stay in pajamas
- Take a shower, read or listen to quiet music half an hour before going to bed.
- Expose yourself to natural light in the morning, either on the balcony or by the window.
- Avoid blue light from cell phones and tablets at night as much as possible.
- Do regular physical exercise at home: weights, gymnastics, dancing…
- Before going to sleep, unwind with a shower, a funny movie…
- Sleep between seven and nine hours and always at night.
- Avoid alcohol and caffeine
- Try to go to sleep and wake up at the same time. Regularity improves the quality and quantity of sleep.
- Maintain a temperature close to 18 degrees in the bedroom.
- Light dinners.
- Have a comfortable mattress and pillow to promote restful sleep.