Along with a healthy diet and exercise, consistent restful sleep is considered the third pillar of good health. The link between sleep deprivation and various chronic physical illnesses, including heart disease, obesity, diabetes, hypertension, and cancer, has been well-researched and documented. There is also a meaningful reciprocal relationship between sleep and mental health, garnering more attention lately, partly due to the stress and anxiety brought on by the Coronavirus pandemic.

We often think of sleep as our body’s “downtime,” but the brain is actually very active during the sleep cycle. While we sleep, mental and emotional processing occurs, so we often feel foggy without enough sleep or get irritable more quickly. Hormone levels are also influenced by sleep, and when we are sleep deprived, our bodies fall out of balance. The hormone cortisol, known for its “fight or flight” association, becomes overproduced when we don’t get enough sleep. This leads to stress and overexcitability, which keeps you awake, creating an endless exhaustion cycle. If this sleep deprivation continues, it can lead to mood disorders, anxiety, and depression. And for those struggling with mental illnesses, a lack of sleep can make treatment more difficult. According to a report from Harvard Medical School, most patients with clinical depression suffer from insomnia. If the insomnia is left untreated, some patients will not respond to therapies. At the same time, those showing improvement on medication run a higher risk of depression relapse.

Physicians and researchers see signs that the Coronavirus pandemic is ruining our ability to sleep because it brings many stress and anxiety triggers. There are the obvious health ramifications as we worry about when there will be a vaccine and how we can continue to keep ourselves and our families safe from contracting the disease. But there are additional triggers that come with a long term global pandemic. The financial consequences are evident everywhere. Unemployment is widespread, and business closures have shaken our economic stability. Social distancing has created pervasive isolation that has affected everyone, from our youngest to our senior populations. This toxic collection of stress factors has led to a new acronym, FED UP, coined by Dr. Abhinav Singh, director of the Indiana Sleep Center. The letters stand for financial stress, emotional stress, distance from others, unpredictability, and personal and professional concerns.

Chronic insomnia, the inability to fall or stay asleep at least three nights a week for three months or longer, is on the rise. According to the UCLA Sleep Disorders Center, the number of insomnia patients has gone up 20 to 30 percent in 2020. Express Scripts has reported a 15 percent jump in sleep medication prescriptions just from February to March of this year alone. The pandemic has caused a drastic shift in our daily routines, including everything from when we wake up in the morning to when we go to bed. This has created a disruption in our Circadian rhythms, which regulate various processes in our bodies, including sleep regulation. Circadian rhythms take cues from environmental sources like natural light. Still, they are also affected by the blue light that is emitted by our technology devices, the more time we spend online, whether for school, work, or entertainment, the more disruption to our sleep cycle.

There are ways we can all improve the quality of our sleep, especially needed during these unprecedented times. Researchers at the Stanford University Sleep Health and Insomnia Program recommend cognitive behavior therapy for insomnia. While insurance does not always cover this type of treatment and sleep-focused physicians are in low supply, many online sources are available through telehealth. And there are other simple steps to take to improve the quality of your sleep, including turning off all electronics at least one hour before bed, getting daylight before 8:00 in the morning, and getting regular exercise.

While no one can predict how long the Coronavirus pandemic will last, these steps can improve our sleep quality, and by doing so, we can improve both our physical and mental health.