Sleep Strategies When You're Sick

Welcome back to BETTER, the email series that provides tools, strategies, and knowledge to help you progress toward a healthier and fitter future.

This week, we provide strategies for adjusting your habits around colds, flu, norovirus, and just being sick.

Today's installment covers how to improve your sleep quality when you're sick.

Sleep is powerful. Arguably, the best strategy to undertake when you are sick is to focus on getting enough quality sleep. Sleep is designed as a time for the body to regenerate and recover from the insults of life. Prioritize it to let your body heal and get back to health.

Use a humidifier. Nothing is worse than being awakened multiple times a night by a coughing attack. A humidifier can keep your airway from getting irritated, allowing you to stay asleep and go deeper into restorative REM and deep sleep periods.

Clean sheets do the trick. This strategy is anecdotal, as I have no research to support this claim. However, I sleep better and accumulate more time in REM and deep sleep (per my Whoop readings) the first night I sleep in clean sheets. It may be psychological, but it produces an improved quality of sleep for me. Give it a shot and see if you experience the same phenomenon!

Avoid screens and social media before bed. Social media and screens, in general, can mess with your nervous system and prevent your body from relaxing before bed. Opt for a good old-fashioned book instead.

Take a hot shower before bed. A hot shower feels fantastic if you have body aches or chills from a virus or the flu. Help your body relax before bed by taking a hot shower. Also, the steam from a hot shower can help your airway open up and reduce congestion, helping you fall asleep quicker.

Maximize the healing power of sleep by utilizing one or several of the strategies above when fighting a bug.