World Sleep Day: How to overcome insomnia

As March 18 is celebrated as World Sleep Day, let’s talk about cases of insomnia that have increased exponentially in pandemic times. According to doctors the prime reason behind this is an irregular lifestyle and too much screen addiction apart from stressing a lot and depression that arises because of restricted social life.

Also read: World sleep day: A Quiz on sleep that won’t keep you up at night

According to a study, people may experience poor concentration, lower productivity, and poorer work quality as a result of insomnia and it is said that the percentage of insomnia is as high as 33 percent among adults in India.

Doctor Preeti Singh, Sr. Clinical Psychologist, and Psychotherapist say insomnia has increased a lot during the pandemic. “It has been observed not only in the adult age group but also in children and adolescents.”

“To begin with there is the psychological impact of the pandemic and because of which anxiety, depression overthinking and a lot of stressed induced insomnia has increased. Also, we have seen a very bad routine of people. We have no time to take care of ourselves. Whenever we feel like, we take bath, food, or play, there is no fixed time for a lot of things and we are doing a lot of these at the cost of sleep,” she told Opoyi.

Dr Shanu Shrivastava, the Senior Physiologist at Indian spinal injury center, New Delhi, said that “people don’t do anything specific to get better sleep.”

“ They always think of daily routines when they are in sleep and nowadays because social life is completely disturbed and most people are working from home, binge-watching has increased. This is also affecting their sleep pattern. Children are too much on an electronic gadget, playing on mobile and watching TV,” she told Opoyi.

So what are the remedies?

“There should be enough physical exercise, ample opportunities to engage your kids or anyone in thinking. Have a fulfilling life on a day to day basis. Engage in hobbies and interests you do other than work. Also, avoid news on Coronavirus and stats add up to the anxiety. Let’s try and ensure that we sleep well and take care of our mood accordingly,” said Dr. Singh.

Dr Shrivastava says to follow sleep hygiene.

Also read: Wake up! 5 myths that are disrupting your good night’s sleep

“Fix the time to go to bed. Also, the atmosphere of the room should be quiet, peaceful, and dark. Try to avoid social media or any kind of electronic gadgets during bedtime. You have to give peace to your mind before your sleep. Just try to be relaxed,” she sums up.