Anxiety that impacts your sleep is common during a pandemic when you don’t know what’s going to happen, and a D.C. mental health expert advises you not to be too hard on yourself.
“Not worrying about insomnia in itself will help you,” said Dr. Elspeth Cameron Richie, chair of psychiatry at MedStar Washington Hospital Center.
“If you’re so determined to get a good night’s sleep that you lie there and panic because you can’t get it, that’s counterproductive,” she said.
Some recommendations if you can’t fall asleep, or wake up in the middle of the night: Get out of bed and read something; make the topic uplifting; read for 20 or 30 minutes, not more than an hour; then, try to get to sleep. And sleep in a bit the next morning, if you can.
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“The pandemic is going to affect everybody’s sleep,” Richie said. “So, give yourself a break.”
Richie also notes that sleep patterns change as you age. As you grow older, it’s harder to sleep the way you did when you were younger.
When you’re trying to relax for sleep or feel anxious, Riche recommends you breathe.
“Take 10 deep breaths through your nose, or other type of meditative breathing,” Richie said. “That’s very helpful.”
A few tips to help lessen daytime anxiety:
- Exercise, run up and down the stairs or take a walk.
- Talk with someone.
- Do something nice for someone.
“Go out of your way to be kind to others, make cookies for somebody wrapped individually or do something that will help other people,” Richie said. “People find that when they help somebody else, it helps themselves.”
