Home » Against insomnia a walk in the open air. Thus the consequences of the pandemic are canceled

Against insomnia a walk in the open air. Thus the consequences of the pandemic are canceled

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Get out of the house for better sleep. What may seem like an oxymoron is actually the best “cure” to realign the circadian rhythms altered by the pandemic. The restrictions imposed by quarantines and lockdowns have resulted in us spending significantly less time outdoors. And even if now the situation is returning to normal, we are carrying the consequences of more than a year spent at home: the time we spend every day in front of a screen has increased, a habit that is difficult to abandon, but above all we continue to lose ourselves in terms of sleep, well-being, muscles and productivity. Because?

According to an Israeli study of 7,517 people, Covid-19 restrictions have reduced the average time we spend outdoors by 58%. And the only way we can make up for lost time is to go out: stay outside the house, well exposed to the sun, as much time as possible. It is not new that a lower exposure to natural light is linked to a worse psychophysical well-being and a poorer sleep quality: we now know that the pandemic has taken us away from sleep and that, to get back to sleep well, there is no remedy. better than a walk in the fresh air. Even in the city.

“Light is an important regulator of daily human physiology, and the restrictions imposed by the coronavirus have drastically altered routines and limited exposure to light causing a significant reduction in sleep quality, physical activity and work productivity,” write the researchers. In particular, “sleep duration is no longer associated with outdoor daylight exposure.” And this loss has long-term busted the sleep-wake rhythms, making us sleep worse, leading to nocturnal awakenings and a not very restful even if long sleep.

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The effect of light

The study conducted by Ariel University involved scholars from Israel, Portugal, Germany, India, Japan, Russia and has just been published in the Journal of Sleep Research. “The effects of light depend on the time of day, duration, intensity and its wavelength. Morning light can compensate for cognitive deficits, phototherapy is widely used for the treatment of depression and mood disorders. while light therapy can activate the dopaminergic, adrenergic and serotonergic cycle, which can affect emotions, mood and melatonin production – writes the doctor Maria Korman, specialized in Neuromodulation of cognitive abilities -. With this study we have ascertained the association between sleep-wake changes during the pandemic and quality of life and we can now recommend that future public strategies actively encourage spending more time outdoors to increase sleep and well-being and, in the case of Covid, even to get back in shape after recovery “.

Time in the open air

On average, the outdoor daylight exposure, or the time we spend outdoors every day, has gone from 1 hour and 47 minutes in 2019 to three quarters of an hour today: 62 minutes less. The study also estimated a reduction in the quality of life for 49.6% of people, physical activity for 51%, productivity for 66.8% and leisure time for 74.3%. Women reported lower sleep quality than men, although the differences between the sexes in the consequences in daily life are negligible. The researchers also looked at those who stopped using the alarm clock during the pandemic and found that while they gained in sleep quality, they lost in productivity.

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“Each social restriction generated a change in the time spent outdoors: this may not directly affect sleep – 43% of the sample did not report significant changes in the duration of rest – explains the expert – but it still had a consequence. on quality of life. It is plausible that social restrictions affect through stress mechanisms that, just like the lack of natural light, alter circadian times “. This also explains the increase in depressive symptoms.

Recover with a daily walk

To recover the lost rhythms, for the experts the solution is to take a walk a day, even better if at least an hour and in the morning: “Exposure to natural light is not only a resilience factor during the pandemic, but it can be in effect a strategy to improve well-being even in conditions of social restrictions and to accelerate recovery from Covid. For all these reasons, governments should actively encourage the population to spend more time outdoors “.

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