Getting a good night's sleep is very important for your emotional health. But during times of stress, our brain can try to stay more activated in order to be on guard against danger, and that can interfere with sleep. Also during this public health crisis so many of us have schedules that are so different than usual. And if you're not leaving your home to go to work or school, you might not need to wake up at your usual time or go to sleep at the time that you usually would. In fact you might find yourself going to sleep at different times each night and waking up at different times each day. And that can throw off the internal clock that your body has for helping you to go to sleep at a certain time and to stay sleeping until a certain time. So here are 10 tips for getting a good night's sleep. Number one, have a consistent sleep schedule. Wake up at the same time every morning, even if you don't have anywhere to go. Having a set schedule, helps set your body sleep clock so that it knows when to help you fall asleep at night and went to help you wake up in the morning. Number two, avoid naps during the day. If you must nap, keep it short, half an hour or less and only in the morning or at the latest in the early afternoon. Number three, stay active during the day. If it's possible, go outside, get some daylight, that helps people fall asleep at night. Number four, use your bed only for sleep. Don't lay in bed while doing things like playing on your phone or watching TV. You want your brain to associate being in bed with going to sleep. Number five, avoid caffeine and alcohol in the evening. Both of those can affect your sleep quality. Number six, exercising during the day is great for sleep, but don't exercise too close to bedtime that can keep you awake. Number seven, take a warm shower or bath around one to two hours before bedtime, that helps your body temperature drop to a nice level so that you can fall asleep at bedtime. Number eight, eat healthy during the day and don't have a big meal that's too close to bedtime. You want to give your digestive system a little bit of time to work and to digest that meal before you go to sleep. Number nine, around 30 to 60 minutes before bedtime, start avoiding electronics, cell phones, tablets, TV, computers, all of these are sending a wavelength of blue light to your eyes, that can confuse your brain and make it think that it's daytime. So avoid those electronics if at all possible. If you really can't, look on your device for a blue light filter, that's gonna filter out that type of light. Number 10, have a relaxing bedtime ritual, each night before you go to bed, do the same relaxing activities, in the same order. That's gonna help your brain to know when to start producing melatonin to make you sleepy. Here's a few extra tips. Make sure that your bedroom is quiet dark and a little bit cool. If other people are being noisy, try using a nice relaxing sound app or a loud fan to drown out that noise. Also if there are lots of thoughts in your head, making it difficult to fall asleep, try keeping a journal by your bed and write those thoughts down. Tell yourself that, those thoughts are now safe in the journal and I'm not gonna forget them, they're right there for me to look at and think about and do something about when I wake up in the morning. Also try to get the amount of sleep that's right for you. Most adults need around seven to nine hours, kids need even more. And on the other hand, don't go to sleep unless you're actually feeling sleepy. Don't keep a clock by your bed. But if it feels like you've been laying in bed for around 15 minutes and you're not falling asleep, don't sweat it. Just get out of bed and do something relaxing until you feel tired. Then try again. Try using these tips to get a good night's sleep and remember, it can take some time to create a healthy sleep schedule. So if first you don't succeed, keep trying.