Famous for his YouTube channel followed by 237,000 subscribers and for his book Sleeping well can be learned where he offers a two-month sleep rehabilitation program, the psychotherapist Benjamin Lubszynski gives some keys to better manage confinement and its impact on sleep. Interview.
How does containment play on sleep?
The first factor for sleep disorders is the level of anxiety, stress. We know through studies on SARS, H1N1 flu and even Covid in China that it increases with confinement, and with that all the problems related to it, including insomnia and in general sleep disturbances. This is an aggravating factor for those who already have sleeplessness, except perhaps for a small part which for once for the occasion to sleep in the morning.
Do the rhythms also not change in the evening?
Yes, many people also go to bed later, and that’s really annoying! To be healthy, mentally and physically, you have to sleep eight hours, almost always at the same hours. However in a situation of confinement, we have a strange perception of time, the days drag on and at the same time are very empty, unsatisfactory, therefore as in a situation of unemployment, illness, retirement, or other situations where we is less active, there is a natural tendency to postpone bedtime. Sometimes until 3 a.m. – 4 a.m. And that’s very bad for sleep.
But what does it matter if we also shift in the morning, the duration remains the same?
The weather stays the same, but there is much less slow, deep sleep, so sleep is less restorative. We can sleep eight hours and be completely exhausted.
Are some of them going through and not being impacted?
There are happy natures who do all that is not necessary for sleep and who sleep very well in five minutes! Men often have far more sleep disorders than women. Only there are aggravating factors for everyone: stress, screens, lack of exposure to light, lack of exercise …
What would be your advice to resist better?
You have to keep up the rhythms: getting up, having lunch, going to bed at a fixed time, well-organized activities, difference between weekdays and weekends… Because we are no longer obliged to do anything, we lose this rhythm, and it’s extremely disturbing . Try to give yourself eight hours a day of activity, even if it’s four hours of cool stuff and just four hours of work. Try to have a project so as not to be in a relationship where you are under confinement, it will be very important. Have routines. And if not the antidote, it is relaxation, whatever it is (hypnosis, meditation, cardiac coherence …) as long as it is daily and regular. It helps absorb the blows and reinforce its brake against stress. At the end of confinement, we will be calmer than at the beginning.
Beyond sleep, are you afraid of other effects of confinement later?
There will be considerable damage in terms of depression, increased anxiety, insomnia, anxiety attack, post-traumatic stress. But it is also very likely that we have a development of agoraphobia, even claustrophobia, of hypochondria, because, in general, the more we avoid fear, the more it becomes stronger. And certainly many more knocks than before, hygiene and verification in particular. What we cannot predict is the gravity of the phenomenon. But waiting times at psychiatrists, now six months in Paris, will surely double!
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