| COVID-19 has changed just about every aspect of our daily lives, from homeschooling children to the security of our jobs—over three million Canadians are currently unemployed due to the crisis—to the ways we interact with the world around us. It only makes sense that the virus was coming for our sleep, too. With such unprecedented changes coming on so quickly, anxiety is at an all-time high due to the uncertainty of the duration—and potential permanence—of some of these changes. Even if you’re healthy and gainfully employed, pandemic living isn’t easy. Anxiety is the enemy of sleep because a racing mind keeps the body from falling asleep. “What I’m seeing with my clients is an increase in insomnia and for a lot of people, insomnia is essentially a form of anxiety,” says Amanda Jewson, a Toronto-based sleep consultant, who has been seeing patients virtually since lockdown began. “Reducing the amount of stress and anxieties that you have in the daytime will help you have better sleep at night.” |
