Better Sleep for These Nights

There is some good and credible evidence that a good night's sleep improves the immune system. Who knows whether and how you might get exposed to the virus, but your immune system is always working for you, and it is powerful. Covid-19 has been called a wimp.



So here I submit an outline of a course I was to have given at Florida Gulf Coast Univ, Seniors Academy last week:

1, Walk outside in the late afternoon without sunglasses. You will be building up your natural melatonin, the brain's sleep-inducer. (There is a slightly reduced supply of melatonin in older persons.).
2, Learn to use diaphragmatic breathing, instruction on the internet, or email me for my instruction sheet. DB turns on the parasympathetic nervous system to calm your worries, including worry about sleeping. It is a physiological event.
3. Slow down before bedtime, read fiction, and meditate, (or just relax).
4.If you nap, make it short, less than one hour, and do it before 3 PM.
5. Get some regular exercise, but do it at least three hours ahead of bedtime.
6. Avoid alcohol. The relaxation from it actually interferes with important stages of sleep. See the book, "Why We Sleep"
7.Take notes on your negative self-talk, and subject these statements to Cognitive Behavior Therapy reworking. See book "Feeling Good" and/or "CBT-1 Coach" as an app. Source: Health After 50, Berkeley School of Public Health.
8. Learn Self-Hypnosis. There are pre-written scripts for this. Licensed clinical hypnotherapists can teach it to you. See American Society of Clinical Hypnosis list of practitioners, some of whom you may visit online.
9. Don't neglect signs of sleep apnea, for which C-pap devices are now in common use via your medical doctor.