Sleeping badly in the pandemic? Here are some suggestions

If you are finding your sleep is suffering in the pandemic, you can at least be assured there are good reasons for it.

Dr. Margaret Rajda, sleep medicine physician at the QEII Health Sciences Centre in Halifax, said there are a couple of factors that are part of the COVID-19 pandemic that could be having an impact on your sleep.

The first is stress, which could be coming from a variety of directions: social isolation, financial difficultiesor just fear of the illness itself.

"Our emotional state is transmitted into our sleep at night and the more distressed we are, usually our sleep tends to suffer," said Rajda.

Finding help for dealing with your anxiety is a good idea for a lot of reasons, but it can also help you sleep better.

The second reason is disruption to your routine.

"What is important is that the sleep occurs at regular intervals, so that we have a time period when we go to bed and sleep and we wake up," said Rajda.

"Getting up in the morning at the same time is more important than going to bed at the same time."

Maybe you've been laid off from your regular job and you're staying up later. But your body still wants to wake up at the same time, so you're getting less quality sleep.

Other disruptions to routine can also affect your sleep. Stuck at home, perhaps you are not exercising as much. This can also have an affect on your sleep, said Rajda.

The solution here is a little more straightforward. Find a routine. Go to bed and get up at the same time, and find a way to exercise regularly.

Screens have also been shown to disrupt sleep if viewed just before bedtime.

Bad sleep patterns can be persistent, said Rajda. If you notice you are having trouble sleeping, it's best to deal with it immediately, or there is a risk the problems will persist even after the source of it is gone.

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