Have you ever found yourself being grumpy in the morning? Chances are you weren’t able to get a good night’s sleep.
Sleep is something most people took for granted when they were younger. As kids, we tend to hate nap times because we all wanted to be outside playing. As teenagers, we found the idea of overnight parties cool. Not until when people hit adulthood, did they realize how sleeping on a good mattress is a dream. Now the thing we have all hated become what we crave for.
Until the pandemic happened and most of the working class were placed under a work-from-home setup. Supposedly, you were now provided with the time to sleep longer in the morning! You do not have to get up early, prepare, and commute because your work desk is only a few steps away. So, were you able to catch on with sleep? Or are you guilty of binge-watching Netflix series and compromising your body clock even more?
It’s okay. It is not only going to be you who is guilty, and that means many people are struggling with productivity issues and mood swings because of a pandemic-induced broken biological clock. To help you out, here are some things you can try to reset your body clock:
Stay Awake
If you want to reset your body clock, you need to stay awake until it is the right time of the night to sleep. Someone with a broken body clock can stay awake up until ten in the morning, then sleep throughout the remainder of the day, and finally wake up in the evening. If you are working freelance, you can work this sleep schedule. However, you will be in trouble if you are under a regular job contract that requires you to be present in the morning.
What will you do if you miss important meetings because you are sleeping? Also, what good would it do your body if you are only sleeping lightly because you need to be aware of your work notifications?
So, you need to fight the sleepiness and force yourself to stay awake until the night comes. It is one of the best and quickest approaches to reset your body clock. It is akin to draining a gadget’s battery and charging it while it’s turned off. Think of it as a major system reboot for your whole being. Once you fall asleep in the evening, you will be surprised that you are going to wake up even earlier than you used to.
Take Sleeping Medications
There is another way to fall asleep quickly with the help of pills. If you are simply tired of staying awake at night and staring at the ceiling, you can get prescribed sleeping medication from the nearest clinic. Medications that will improve the production of melatonin, the hormone responsible for sleeping, without making you feel horribly sluggish.
There are some medications (for anxiety and depression) that cause some feelings of drowsiness to ease any brain activities to a stop. Fortunately, you should not worry about this with sleeping pills. They are not made to sedate you but condition your body to sleep, and it usually takes an hour or so to take effect, so you can go on about your night and do your skincare routine without any worries.
Engage Yourself with Physical Activities
When your body is tired, it tends to feel hunger and sleepiness. It is to make up for the energy lost during the said activity. So, it is now time to get up and jog around. Especially if you have been working from home for the past couple of years. Your body needs to be jumpstarted with physical exercises during the day so you will be able to feel sleepy at night and not in the morning!
If you are not a fan of gyms and extreme workouts, try biking. It is a moderate physical activity that burns calories fast and improves your cardiovascular health without that much muscle strain. You will be surprised how hungry you will be after a ride, and how hard you will get knocked out at night. Not to mention that physical activities also boost endorphin production, aka the happy hormone that improves mood, focus, and productivity.
Whatever reason you have for having a broken body clock during the quarantine, what matters is how you fix it. Sleep is not something you can take for granted. It is how the body repairs itself and how you gain your energy to function again for another day.
