This is a very stressful time for all of us. Over the last several months, most of us have probably contemplated our health, our safety, and even our mortality in relation to the novel coronavirus. Moreover, in response to racial injustice, many black and brown people have had to question whether others see their lives as valuable as those who have a different skin color. Racial/ethnic minorities have been of the hardest hit with coronavirus infections. Unfortunately, it seems that this stressful time will persist for a while longer. To help maintain good health and reduce stress during this challenging period, maintaining good sleep habits could be a good place to start. You may wonder “how can sleep be helpful for this?”, but let me explain two primary reasons below.

Sleeping well facilitates emotional stability. Times like this can ignite panic, fear, and anxiety. However, sleep can be helpful to counteract those negative feelings, while the lack of sleep may exacerbate them, making it more difficult to find a sense of calm. For example, recent studies show that sleep deprivation is directly tied to increased reports of anxious feelings (1). Furthermore, poor sleep is closely linked with negative mood. Those who are sleep deprived are more likely to remember fewer positive words than those who sleep normally (2). During a time when we may constantly consume negative or frightening information, we may find it more difficult to pay attention to and remember the positive things that do happen, resulting in maintaining more negative moods. Sleeping well may help to reduce this negative bias and allow for greater focus on the positive things that we experience.

Sleep is also especially important for cognitive health. People who are well-rested tend to do better on cognitive tasks, including attention, memory, and problem-solving tasks, than those who are sleep deprived (3–5). We need these cognitive facilities to manage the current state of our reality, to stay safe and to stay healthy. It’s important that we pay attention to our environment and be careful about what we touch. We have to remember to regularly wash our hands, especially after being in public spaces. We also have to use problem-solving skills to solve even minor issues – like the best time to get groceries, to manage new routines, and the most effective way to work from home (if we are fortunate enough to be afforded that luxury).

Sleeping well is not some esoteric, unachievable practice, even in the midst of a pandemic. There are practical things that you can do to help yourself to sleep well.

1. Follow a routine. You may have to build a new routine, but following one will be helpful to falling asleep and staying asleep during the night. Aim to go to bed at the same time and wake up at the same time every day. People who have more stable day-to-day activity patterns and less night-to-night sleep variation often have better sleep quality and memory (6,7).

2. Only use your bed for sleep (and intimacy). Building a strong association with the bed and sleeping can help to fall asleep more easily (8). Avoid contaminating that association with activities like eating, working, or checking the news.

3. Limit your media consumption, especially before bed. It is indisputably important to stay informed, but it may be best to take a break from the media before bed (e.g., no media consumption two hours before bed). Reading the news before bed may make it more difficult to settle in to sleep. The last thing that you see before trying to sleep should not be anything that could be stressful or upsetting.

4. Write it out. Writing may help to relieve stress. For example, if you’re stressing about what you need to do the next day, make a to-do list of tasks that you want to accomplish. Recent research has shown that simply jotting down a specific to-do list before bed helps people to fall asleep faster than if they write about previously completed tasks (9).

5. Optimize your bedroom setting. People tend to sleep better in rooms that are cool and dark (10). If you wake up sweating, your bedroom is likely too warm. You may want to adjust your thermostat during the night, open the windows, or use a fan. Also, ensure that there is no light coming into your room from the windows or electronics; using blackout curtains and shutting off or removing light-emitting devices can help with darkening your bedroom.