This is coronavirus daily from NPR. I'm Kelly McEvers. Doctors say one way to help your

immune system is to get a full-night sleep. But for many people, the stress and anxiety

of this pandemic makes it harder to get that sleep. We will hear advice from two doctors

on that and a pediatric nurse will answer parents questions about what to do with their

kids this summer. These excerpts come from the radio show, the national conversation, with

all things considered. Here's Michelle Martin.

These are unprecedented times. Millions of people have lost their jobs, their health insurance,

their support systems. Tens of thousands of people have died and many more have lost a

loved one to the coronavirus. The fear, the stress and anxiety that come with a global pandemic

have taken a huge toll on many people's mental health and also our ability to sleep.

Many of you have sent us questions about having a hard time falling asleep. We're staying

asleep or having a restful sleep. Here to help us get some answers, we have Dr. Sonia

and Coley Israel of the University of California San Diego and of the Center for Circadian Biology.

Dr. and Coley Israel, thanks so much for joining us.

Thank you so much for having me. Also with us Dr. Christina McCray of the University

of Missouri, she's also the director of the Mizzou Sleep Research Lab. Dr. McCray,

welcome to you as well. Thank you for having me. We have a lot of ground to cover, so let's

just jump right in with Brit. What should you do if you can't fall asleep? I'm staying

in bed listening to audiobooks, but I don't know if that actually helps or hurts my sleep.

I just know that it keeps me from anxiety spiral. And Julie wants to know about staying

asleep. She writes, what do you do when you can fall asleep? But you wake up in the middle

of the night and you can't get back to sleep. So let's say a doctor and Coley Israel,

...