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Welcome to sleep talk. The podcast

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about all things sleep brought

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to you by sleephub.com.au. Here

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are your hosts Dr. David Cunnington

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and Dr. Moira Junge.

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So welcome to this special episode of the

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Sleep Talk podcast. Welcome Moira.

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Hello Dave. A really good idea to just have this

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quick one off episode to

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get some messages out there about those that aren't

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sleeping well which is probably the most of the world at the moment.

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So the circumstances we find ourselves in are unfortunate

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but we thought it was important to try and

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give people some strategies to help with sleep

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during these difficult times.

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One of the key points we wanted to emphasize

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is that our daytime lives are markedly

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different. It's been totally thrown upside

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down in what we're allowed to do during the day.

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So really we should expect that nighttime

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and sleep is also going to be different.

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It's a very stressful time. So it's also important

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to make sure we look after ourselves both physically

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and mentally. We've experienced this personally

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over the last week feeling anxious and finding

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sleep's changed but have been able to manage

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our symptoms. I've been waking up a

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bit earlier. It's a natural tendency of mine

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anyway but it does get earlier

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again when I'm a bit stressed or anxious.

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Cycling's my thing. If I'm feeling

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a bit stressed or anxious spending some time on a bike

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and fortunately I've got an indoor bike set

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up so I can do that whilst maintaining

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social distancing. It's been helpful.

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So although I've been waking early I've been

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fitting in a cycling session before work and I found

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that pretty helpful. I've also

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selected a couple of books to read that deliberately

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aren't work or virus related. What

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about you Moira?

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It's a devastating time. There's the worry

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about the virus. There's also that fear

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of keeping yourself safe and your family safe.

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Am I being cautious enough? Those sorts of fears. But

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of course there's the worry and the sadness

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about the deadly economic and social consequences.

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The change is so rapid. There's so much uncertainty.

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So I haven't actually been sleeping very well. In

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the first maybe say a week ago and

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I've managed to get things back on

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track.

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So what did you do?

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Isn't it great that a physician, not

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that I'm a physician, but physician heal thyself.

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I actually just had to take my medicine

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and put into practice

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the CBT-I principles that

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I've taught for many many

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many years now. We've actually just developed

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a new Sleep Health Foundation fact sheet

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that's available now. We'll put the link to that

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in our show notes that outlines

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basically what I did. Do you want me to tell you what I did?

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Absolutely.

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One of the most important things for me was to limit my media

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exposure because I'm just devouring

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the media exposure about COVID-19. Because

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as a business owner, as a parent, as a concerned

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citizen, I really want to be up to date but

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I realize that I have to really limit that and only

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go to the official sites. So

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I actually recommend the www.health.gov.au because

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the rest of the media reports are just too conflicting.

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Have you noticed, it's just too conflicting and there's just

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too much uncertainty. So for

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me I just have to go with what

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the actual requirements and guidelines are right

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now today. The other thing I found

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really important that I've taught all my life

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and realize how much I needed to do it myself

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is unwinding. So spending that time

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relaxing doing other things other than looking at COVID-19

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reports. Also I thought was super

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important to keep up my fitness and

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I've got my whole family onto that too that we

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are really clear about our exercise

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every day and eating sensibly.

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There's nothing open anyway so there's

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no need to be drinking too much, so we're

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actually just really really white hot

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onto the three pillars of health of exercise,

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our diet our sleep. Just prioritizing

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those three things to keep our

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immune system healthy but also to

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keep our mental health functioning well

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because there's a lot of angst in our household like around

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the world. I also

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have really got into making

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myself remind myself of the importance of meditation

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and I can't stress that enough. To me it's like

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the insulin for the diabetic at this time.

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I just have to fall back and lean into my

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meditation to actually make sure that I keep

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my levels of hyper arousal reasonable

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and make sure that I don't go over that threshold

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to sleep poorly. I really need my sleep

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more than ever.

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It's a really good point about the meditation and

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I've been a bit more proactive about that as well

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because often if people aren't sleeping well they'll

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conceptualize it as 'the answer is

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I'm going to fix this by doing something about sleep'

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but in stressful times like this the answer

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is more about self care and managing

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worries during the day. So really

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important to be proactive

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about managing worries throughout

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the day and there's a lot to worry about. People

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are also going to sleep shorter because that's

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actually pretty common when we're uncertain

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of things for adrenaline levels to be higher.

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Bed restriction and sleep restriction are core

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components of CBT-I that we've talked about a lot.

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I made sure that I practice it myself.

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I had to be realistic about just staying up as

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late as possible with my unwinding

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period mind you and in dim light to

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make sure that I could actually have that

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higher level of sleep pressure

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to make sure I could initiate and then maintain my sleep

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better. And if I wasn't sleeping

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well that I did go to another room, waited to be

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tired and sleepy. Did some

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reading. All the stuff I've taught. So glad I actually know

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how to do this stuff. It turned back very quickly

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within a matter of just a day or two.

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And that's what the research shows. Those two techniques

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sleep restriction stimulus control are really

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powerful strategies for getting sleep back

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on track by changing behavior

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around sleep.

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It really helps build that empathy

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as well. You really

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need to understand how bad it can be

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for people and just to really understand

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t his is the strategy I'm going to do.

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It's so important when you are

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out of the bed waiting to be sleepy and tired

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that you are in dim light and you don't monitor the clock. It's very

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important. Just do not even buy into

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what time it might be and what you what you are missing or calculating

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all that sort of stuff. The final point

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I wanted to make was that it's really important to manage

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your fatigue. Even I didn't get much sleep it

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doesn't mean that it is the end of the world or mean I wouldn't be able to function well

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the next day. I've been making

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the use of having little naps if

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I needed to and even though I had a coffee,

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actually having appropriately timed caffeine to

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help manage

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my sleepiness and my energy

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levels. So that was really important.

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I also have been right on to following

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my psychological society's

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fact sheets on things like how to manage

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distress in the time of coronavirus and

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also Beyond Blue which is our leading

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national advocate on mental health. They've got good resources

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on mental health and we'll put both those resources in the show notes.

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Thanks for that discussion Moira. Just to try and tie

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things together. The key points for people

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who are having trouble with sleep for me

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is expect sleep to be different. Our day

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times are very different. This is a very uncertain

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time and we're all going to be feeling somewhat anxious.

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So in those circumstances expect sleep to be shorter,

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to be waking more, for sleep to be lighter

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and change your behavior accordingly maybe

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by going to bed later. Not be so concerned

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if you wait during the night and if you do wait during

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the night don't be afraid of getting up doing something

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else until you feel sleepy before you

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go back to bed. What about for you Moira?

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I think the overall management of your self

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care, your stress management is really

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important and I think that the keeping the

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three pillars in check making sure you

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do have plenty of exercise and

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that you're eating well and that you are prioritizing

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sleep at least allowing time

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for sleep and rest in this sort of uncertain

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time. I think these are the key things

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that will help bring people back on track

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to actually just improve their sleep.

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If you are having trouble with sleep despite

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accessing the good resources like the Sleep

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Health Foundation fact sheet that we'll link

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to, remember that healthcare providers

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are still working during this time and are

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available. Providers like myself and

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Moira have worked very hard to shift our

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consultation services online so

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that we're available for people throughout this

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period, which is going to be a challenging period

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and cause changes with sleep for many people.

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Thanks very much for your insights Moira and for contributing

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to this episode.

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Thank you very much Dave. Thanks for organizing

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it so promptly and I just want to say just

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best wishes to everyone.

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Thanks a lot.

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This podcast is not intended as a substitute

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for your own independent health professionals advice,

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diagnosis or treatment. Always

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seek the advice of your physician or other

8:19

qualified health provider within your country

8:22

or place of residency with any questions

8:24

you may have regarding a medical condition.