VOA常速英语:好梦医生

Hi, I'm Dr. Aarithi Vemana, co-director of the Pediatric and Adolescent Sleep Center.The Covid 19 pandemic has had a huge impact on everyone's daily lives.Now we do have more time at home to focus on sleep,but sleep is really difficult in stressful periods.So I wanted to take a few moments to talk to you guys about having a good sleep schedule,and how to maintain that sleep schedule during the quarantine period.

Start off by having a good bedtime routine.And that bedtime routine doesn't have to be anything complicated,but it should be the same few steps done in the same order at the same time every night.This helps your brain realized that it's time to wind down to go to sleep.The next morning, make sure that you're waking up around the same time every day,and keep yourself on a schedule. That schedule should include exercise and that exercise is best done during the daytime if possible. At night, make sure that you're putting your screens away about an hour before you go to bed. This helps to minimize your blue light exposure and that's important,because blue light can trick your brain into thinking that it's daylight outside.But more importantly during these stressful Covid 19 times,the content of what we're looking at on the screens can be very stressful,and can be very anxiety provoking for young ones. So instead of using screens, spend some time together as a family. Talk about all the good things that have happened during the day and focus on the positive. This will talk to distress everyone's brains right before bedtime. If you're still having trouble, reading or guided relaxation is a great option,to help focus your brain on something that's not related to Covid 19. I hope everyone stays home and that they stay healthy.