How to Sleep Well With Cabin Fever

Stuck at home? Cabin fever can really drive you crazy. It can even have a negative effect on your sleeping habits. Not being able to go through your standard routine can throw off your entire sleep schedule, from sleeping in and taking extra long naps, to staying up all night.

When you loose your sense of time and space it can be difficult to maintain a healthy sleep hygiene. Which is the whole reason we are here today. We are going to give you different tips and tricks in order to help you maintain healthy happy sleeping habits if you are stuck in doors. Keep reading to get all the tips.

Create a Stress Free Morning Routine to ease into your day naturally.

Set a Morning Routine

We humans are creatures of habit. Having a routine gives us a sense of stability in our lives. Which is why we suggest setting a time to wake up every morning, even on the weekends. We also suggest choosing a few simple and enjoyable activities to do when you wake up. A few great options are writing in a journal, reading a book, or even a bit of morning yoga.

Even if it is just a shower and a cup of coffee, or watching an episode of your favorite show while you get dressed. It doesn’t particularly matter what you do, as long as you stick to your schedule and get out of bed around the same time every morning. This routine will not only make it easier to wake up in the morning, but by having a set morning schedule you are likely to fall asleep easier at night too.

Need help getting back on a healthy sleep schedule? Head over to our post How To Fix Your Sleep Schedule for tips and tricks.

Take a Shower

When you aren’t leaving the house, it can be tempting to skip that morning shower. This might feel like a treat on day one, two, or even on day three. However, taking a nice shower is both a healthy morning routine as well as an act of self care.

When you don’t shower, you do not feel good about yourself. Especially once the greasy hair and zits start to take over. So be sure to shower regularly, it makes you feel good and can be a great morning activity to help wake yourself up.

Want an extra boost in mood?! Keep up with your standard grooming routine. It is nice to skip shaving or putting on makeup in order to give your skin a break. However, choosing a day to get cleaned up or dolled up can be a great mood booster.

Cabin Fever can trigger bouts of depression. Head over to our page How to Sleep Better with Depression for more tips of sleeping well while depressed.

Get Dressed

All dressed up and no where to go? Exactly, but that is okay. When you sit around in the same sweatpants for weeks, it simply isn’t inspiring to get up during the day. Which then can lead to an awful nights sleep. By getting dressed you are sending signals to wake up and get moving to your brain.

You will also feel far better about yourself which is a big bonus. This will help Cabin Fever from turning into a dark depressing time. This will also allow for the relaxing routine of getting into a new set of clean pajamas at night. Which is a great nightly routine for going to bed.

Avoid Long Naps!

It can be tempting to take long luxurious naps when you’re stuck inside the house with seemingly nothing else to do. However, long naps are a sure fire way to throw off your sleep schedule.

When your body is not used to napping on a regular basis and then you take a nice long nap, your circadian rhythm is thrown off by this. You will very likely find it difficult to fall asleep later that night, making it more difficult to wake up at your usual time in the morning.

Which is why we suggest avoiding the length naps and find another way to fill your time. Especially if you’re trying to maintain a healthy sleep schedule.

You May Also Like: The Long & Short of Napping

Exercise

It is hard to go to sleep at night when your body has essentially been at rest all day long. Get your blood pumping! This is an especially great morning or afternoon activity. Of course since you are stuck indoors this may require some extra creativity, but you can do it. (jumping jacks, wall sits, squats, burpees, sit ups, high knees, etc)

There are plenty you of activities you can do in your home with zero equipment and very little space. Try to get your heart rate up for at least 30 minutes a day. This will make it easier to go to sleep in the evenings, as well as keep the cabin fever blues at bay.

Click the link to view our post, Exercise & Sleep to learn more about the beneficial effects exercise has on your sleep schedule.

Cut the Caffeine 

Of course your morning cup of coffee is fine. However, we suggest cutting out caffeine at least 6 hours before you would like to be going to sleep. It takes roughly 6 hours for the effects of caffeine to completely subside, allowing you to get to sleep easier and naturally.

If you are having serious trouble falling asleep and waking up in the morning you may find cutting caffeine completely beneficial to your sleep schedule.

Keep in mind that this can be difficult to do as even the amount of caffeine found in food like dark chocolate can be enough to make it difficult to get to sleep.

Learn more about the different foods containing caffeine along with more information on the benefits of cutting it out completely on our page Caffeine Free: The Benefits of Quitting Caffeine. 

Limit Screen Time

When you can’t leave the house there is a limited amount of entertainment around you. Which can lead to a lot of time on our phones and watching TV.

However, screens output a lot of blue light which tells our minds to wake up and pay attention. This can make it very difficult to get to bed as it throws off your natural circadian rhythm. So try to limit the amount of screen time you are having, especially right before bed.

Learn more about the downsides of screen time on our post Pros and Cons to Having a TV in Your Bedroom to learn more.

Get Some Fresh Air (If you can)

Depending on the reason you are stuck at home, this may not be possible. However, if you can safely take a walk or even open up the windows for a bit, this can really calm nerves.

There is something about getting outdoors for some fresh air and sunshine that really relieves stress. The more you can relieve your stress, the easier it will be to get to sleep at night.

Learn more about the benefits of Vitamin D has on your sleep in our post Vitamin D and Sleep.

Natural Sleep Aids

Still can’t sleep with Cabin Fever? Sometimes you can do everything right for your sleep schedule and still find yourself laying in bed with your eyes wide open. Natural sleep aids can be a great way to help you drift off to sleep without the groggy effects of traditional sleeping pills.

Melatonin and CBD are two of the current most popular natural sleep aids around. Although there are many teas, and vitamins that can support healthy sleep hygiene as well. Be sure to talk to your doctor before taking natural sleep aids as some may react with your current medications.

Click the link to learn more about our favorite Natural Sleep Aids an how they work.

Create a Relaxing Nightly Routine 

We started with a morning routine and naturally we end with a nightly routine. Again, keeping a routine provides a healthy structure for our lives. It also helps trigger internal signals that it is time to wake up or go to sleep.

We highly suggest adding a relaxing activity to your nightly routine. A few ideas for relaxing nightly routine activities are… drinking a bedtime tea, taking a warm bath, relaxing yoga, or even meditation. This is a great time for some self care & love, so choose something relaxing.

Head over to our post Stress Free Nightly Routine for tips on how you can create your own stress free bedtime routine.

How to Sleep Well With Cabin Fever – Final Thoughts

Getting a good nights rest with Cabin Fever is actually rather similar to getting a great nights sleep in any other environment.

Our bodies and minds love routine, it gives us stability and allows for our bodies natural processes (like our circadian rhythm) to sync up to our daily practices. Which is why it is important to wake up around the same time and go to sleep at the same time everyday. As well as staying active, limiting caffeine intake, and limiting screen time are all good ways to support a natural and healthy sleep schedule. We hope our tips keep you sleeping well while you’re stuck inside.

Have you tried any other tricks to sleep well with Cabin Fever? Did they work, or not? We want to hear about it!
Head over to our Contact Us page and send us a message. We would love to hear what you have tried out.