JAMIE BENNETT
Daylight Saving Time ends Sunday November 5 at 2 a.m. Clocks fall back an hour, and most Canadians will get an extra hour of sleep. Will the extra hour be enough to address Canadians’ sleep crisis? Likely not.
Gayle MacDonald reports that even before the pandemic, we were a country of tired, groggy people, with 13 million Canadians not getting the seven to nine hours of shut-eye recommended for adults each night.
Then COVID-19 descended in early 2020 and sleep issues went from being a serious health concern to something verging on a crisis.
Jonathan Charest, who has a PhD in psychology and is director of athlete sleep services at the Centre for Sleep and Human Performance in Calgary describes the pandemic as the “perfect storm” of every possible bad thing you can do for your sleep. Charles Morin, professor of psychology and Canada Research Chair in Behavioural Sleep Medicine at Laval University’s Brain Research Centre, estimates sleep disorders have increased two- or three-fold in the past couple of years.
Just how bad is Canada’s sleep crisis, and what are the consequences of a under-rested population? Gayle MacDonald reports.
Your questions about how to sleep well, answered
How can you stay asleep? Are bad sleep habits genetic? What is sleep paralysis? How does aging affect sleep? The Globe took your questions to sleep experts, and you might be surprised by some of their answers.
Sleep routines from the experts
Ever wonder how sleep experts prepare for a night of shut-eye? We asked three pros to share their routines and offer their tips for getting the rest you need. (Spoiler: no warm milk required.)
Is your mattress the problem?
We spend about a third of our lives in bed, so it’s worth taking the time to find the right mattress for you. We enlisted the help of some mattress pros to walk you through the jargon (foam, spring or hybrid? Oh my!) and help you find the mattress of your dreams (literally).
Six reasons why your next set of bed sheets should be Canadian
You’ve made your bed, and now you have to sleep in it. Get a better night’s sleep with one of these six Canadian-made sheet sets.
How does the food you eat affect how you sleep?
Growing evidence suggests that tweaking your diet can set you up for a better sleep. The foods you eat – and when you eat them – are thought to play a role in how well you sleep, writes Leslie Beck.
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