Are you quarantined at home like me? Is your sleep starting to go a little off track? That's okay. We can learn how to sleep well during prolonged isolation from professionals who would know firsthand. Astronauts. Welcome back to savvy psychologist. I'm your host Dr. Jade Wu and every week I'll help you meet life's challenges

with evidence-based research as sympathetic ear and zero judgment. So

greetings from my couch to yours. As I prepare this episode, I'm in my sixth week of

sheltering in place. Like many people around the world, it's my first experience with saying

at home for so long.

If you're feeling self-couroutine cabin fever,

you're not alone.

Well, maybe you are, but not in spirit.

Most of us are feeling the strain of social isolation and physical confinement.

Part of the isolation package is sleep disruption. I've heard from more than a few people

that they've developed insomnia or they feel tired

all the time or have been having more nightmares than usual.

My sleep health provider colleagues have received record numbers of calls. So how do we deal with sleep

problems in these unprecedented circumstances? Even most sleep scientists have

never specifically studied the consequences of prolonged isolation and confinement, much less experienced it themselves.

But you know who has? Astronauts.

The Institute for Biomedical Problems of the Russian Academy of Sciences conducted

a bold and unique experiment in 2011. Six astronauts of diverse nationality and cultural backgrounds were confined together for 520 days in an environment

simulating the inside of a spacecraft.

Why 520 days?

Well that's how long it would take to complete a trip to Mars and back.

The crew experienced a totally immersive simulation of what a Mars mission would entail.

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