LONG COVID FATIGUE - A GOOD NIGHT’S SLEEP
STARTS LONG BEFORE YOU GO TO BED
1) Pace your activities during the day correctly
When you are managing low energy levels creating the right daily routine is
essential. Pacing activities appropriately will mean that you are not having to
‘push through’ your body systems to complete tasks during the day. Having to
‘push through’ and stimulating an alert nervous system to create energy can
lead to a bodily experience commonly known as “tired but wired”. This causes a
feeling of exhaustion but being unable to sleep later in the evening.
2) Have a regular sleep routine waking at the same time in the morning
and going to sleep at the same time in the evening – (if able).
If you find that you are sleeping till later in the morning and at times throughout
the day this will interfere with your body clock and quality of sleep. If this is
happening it will be difficult to achieve a good quality sleep and will require a
gradual adjustment. Your therapist will guide you on the best ways to achieve
resetting sleep times.
3) Create the right sleep environment
Remove electronic devices in your bedroom such as the TV, computers and
smart phones. When electronic devices are used this encourages your brain to
be awake and alert. If devices are used it needs to be in the name of sleep
techniques such a white noise machine.
3) If you have sleep disturbances, insomnia, or anxiety about sleeping try
calming activities to encourage your nervous system not to be over
stimulated over stimulated which will prevent you from drifting off to
sleep.
60 minutes before you are due to go sleep make sure that are doing something
that you know for you is relaxing. This may be listening to calming music, or try
relaxing meditations. Remove yourself from a noisy environment as this will not
encourage the body to calm.
4) If you feel really alert 1 hour before your natural bedtime, try not to
worry.
This is a naturally occurring spike in wakefulness that sleep researchers have
observed. Try not to worry and it should pass.
5) Be in sunlight within 30-60 minutes of waking. Do that again in the later
in the afternoon.
On cloudless days this may mean spending 10 minutes outside and on a cloudy
day 20 minutes, repeat again in the afternoon sun. This encourages your body
clock to wake up and be aware of the times of day. Supporting signals to the
body later in the evening that it is time to wind down and sleep.
6) Avoid caffeine within 8-10 hours of bedtime.
Research has shown that it requires only a small amount of caffeine to remain in
your body to interfere with your sleep pattern.
7) Drinking alcohol messes up your sleep and should not be consumes in
the last 4 hours before bedtime.
Studies looking at the effects of alcohol on sleep have found that whilst
alcohol reduces the time required to fall asleep and increases the amount of
deep sleep it reduces the amount of REM sleep. It is likely that you will wake
early in the morning around 3am. Reduced REM sleep contributes to the
feeling of being unrefreshed following a night’s sleep.
8) Avoid viewing bright lights—especially bright overhead lights between
10 pm and 4 am.
Only use as much artificial lighting as is necessary for you to remain and move
about safely at night, for example if you wake to go to the toilet. Using a blue
light blocker can help a bit at night but still dim the lights. Viewing bright lights of
all colours are a problem for your body clock.
10) Keep the room you sleep in cool and dark and use blankets to layer
that you can remove.
Your body needs to drop in temperature by 1-3 degrees to fall and stay asleep
effectively. Body temperature increases are one reason you wake up. Keep your
room cool and remove blankets as needed. If it’s too hot, try a cooling device
such as a fan or a cooling mask.