Getting Zzz's during COVID-19

The coronavirus pandemic might be keeping your clients up at night. Or it may be causing them to sleep too much. Both scenarios are concerning because sleep is key to good health. Sleep problems can impact body weight, mood, and brain function. Sleep deficiency is linked to many chronic health problems, including heart disease, high blood pressure, diabetes, obesity, and depression. Our Sleep Right Poster teaches the benefits of sleep and how to eat, drink, and exercise to get a good night's sleep. You could use it to start a conversation with your clients about how they're sleeping these days. Maybe they can identify with one (or more) of these anti-sleep behaviors:

1. Screen-checkers are on their devices right up until bedtime. The blue light from screens interferes with your body’s production of melatonin, which can make it hard to fall asleep. Turn off your devices at least an hour before bedtime.
2. Mind-racers have trouble quieting their brain to get into sleep mode. Calm down with physical relaxation exercises, meditation, or soothing bedtime stories (use podcasts or apps like Calm and Headspace).
3. Toss-and-turners try to force sleep. If you can’t fall asleep within 15-30 minutes, staying in bed is just going to make it worse. Get up and do something quiet and relaxing until you feel sleepy. But keep the lights low.
4. Catch-uppers sleep late on the weekends to make up for sleepless weeknights. It's best to have a consistent bedtime and wake-up time every day of the week. And a pre-bedtime routine lets your brain and body know it's almost time for sleep.
5. Nappers come in two varieties. Power-nappers take short naps that are refreshing and make them more productive. Long-nappers take -- you guessed it -- long naps that leave them feeling groggy and can interfere with night-time sleep. Napping after 3pm isn't a good idea.

There are also lots of sleep-related apps you can try. Check out this list from Healthline.com.