In general, how do you think this pandemic has affected the quality of our sleep and our ability to both fall asleep and stay asleep? How do you think prolonged periods of stress tend to mess with our sleep cycles?

With the overall collective stress increase during the pandemic, there has been an impact on people’s sleep latency, and/or the time it takes to fall asleep, as well as the ability to stay asleep. When our sympathetic system is in overdrive, it can override the sense of sleepiness or break through the night’s sleep.

Increased stress can lead to a disrupted quality of sleep as that hyperarousal may be just humming underneath the surface. The stimulus is not enough to disrupt falling asleep or staying asleep, but individuals may recognize they don’t feel rested or refreshed upon awakening.

Over time, a consistent disruption in sleep related to increased stress can actually continue to affect someone even after their stress level goes back down. The prolonged time to fall asleep or difficulties staying asleep become reinforced and the body gets used to it. This means that even after the pandemic passes and we get back to some normalcy, some people may find their sleep is still disrupted.