Although the current COVID-19 pandemic has led to many sleepless nights, insomniacs can improve their sleep by understanding the habits that cause difficulty in falling asleep or staying asleep, according to American Academy of Sleep Medicine. .
A 2021 March survey studied 2,006 adults online, finding over 50% of Americans experienced trouble sleeping during the pandemic, and among those who had sleep disturbances, the most common complaint was difficulty falling asleep or staying asleep, with 46% of respondents sleeping less at night and 36% having disturbing dreams, according to the American Academy of Sleep Medicine. .
The CDC defines insomnia as the "inability to initiate or maintain sleep," which could be related to waking up earlier than normal, noting specifically the difficulty with falling or staying asleep can be due to excessive daytime sleepiness, which often doesn’t allow us to optimally perform our daily activities. .
Adults should try to get between seven and nine hours of sleep at night, according to sleep experts.
"Two things are important, figuring out how to fall asleep, and once you fall asleep, making sure that you can sleep through the night, and that the quality of your sleep is adequate," says Dr
One of the main reasons many people have difficulty falling asleep is "anticipatory anxiety," where a person wants to go to sleep, but starts worrying if they will actually get to sleep and can’t go to bed, he told Fox News.
By shifting their thoughts to staying awake, they are distracting their mind from thinking about the need to fall asleep
This allows their bodies to take over and do what the body wants to do, fall asleep," Aoun noted.
Difficulty staying asleep and poor quality sleep, on the other hand, is often caused by anxiety, he said.
He suggests a strategy to help clear the mind before falling asleep and to improve the quality of sleep.
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