Miranda Levy How to beat lockdown jetlag
As the clocks change, after a year of sleeplessness, Miranda Levy asks the experts how we can reset
As the world prepares to “go back”, our body clocks are about to take a mighty “spring forward”. The annual hour’s nudge-on, which took place ace at 1am last night, came after 12 months of living in a state of lockdown-induced jet lag, with rates of insomnia soaring. So what will the easing of restrictions mean for our sleep?
“That so many of us are currently experiencing sleeplessness comes down to the configuration of almost biblical circumstances,” says Steven Altchuler, a neurologist and sleep expert at the Mayo Clinic in the US. “It’s s been a consequence of the changes we’ve experienced in Covid.”
“Coronasomnia” has spread far and wide.
Research from the University of Southampton in August 2020 revealed that the number of people experiencing insomnia had risen from one in six before the pandemic, to one in four in the middle of it, with more sleep problems in groups including mothers and essential workers. The word “insomnia” was googled 2.77m times in the US during the first five months of 2020, a rise of 58 per cent compared with the same period from the previous three years.
Professor Guy Leschziner is a consultant neurologist at the Sleep Disorders Centre at Guy’s and St Thomas’ Hospital in London, and the author hor of The The Nocturnal Nocturnal Brain. “Over the past 12 months, , people’s sleep has as gone in one of two directions,” he says. “Some are in a better position than they were before the lockdowns. Because there have been fewer demands from work and socialising, they are actually sleeping better.”
But these are the minority. “Most of us have been negatively affected. Yes, we’ve been spending longer in bed be because there’s been no commute or schoo school run, but because of anxiety, much of our sleep has been poorer.” Dr Sophie Bostock, a sleep scientist, says many of our adopted lockdown behaviours – waking later, eating later an and going to bed later – have led our body clocks to shift back. “When your body clock shifts back, melatonin, the hormone which signals darkness and helps to ready the bo body for sleep, is delayed,” she says. “Late mealtimes, having all the lights on, or playing energetic computer games late at night can al all delay melatonin onset. “International sleep research suggests many of us have been reverting to our more ‘night owl’ tendencies over the past year, meaning our body clocks have been running a bit slow. We’ve naturally been feeling sleepy later, and waking up later. This has been especially true with young people over the past 12 months.” But now, with groups of six allowed to meet outside from tomorrow, we are coming out of hibernation – just as the clocks go forward forward. Even in normal circumstances, the biannual resetting of the clocks has an impact, says Dr Bostock. “On average, most people lose around 40 minutes of sleep when the clocks go forward. Although this doesn’t sound like much, statistically speaking we see an increase in road accidents, heart attacks, and even harsh decisions by judges.”
The experts agree that as the world reopens and the office beckons, and we start to readjust to
previous timetables, many will find themselves feeling sleep-deprived. So what, if anything, can we do to beat lockdown jet lag?
According to Dr Bostock, we have some power the resetting of our circadian rhythms. “If your wake-up time has crept forward by a few hours, you can ease the transition by moving it back by 15 minutes a day,” she says. “To help you get going in the morning, make sure you have plenty of bright light, eat some breakfast and go for a short walk; light, food and movement all send a wake-up call to the e brain. Conversely, to fall asleep earlier, avoid eating within the last two hours before bed, the lights and avoid vigorous exercise before bed.”
The vaccination rollout may start to ease anxieties about catching Covid, and the health of older or vulnerable loved ones, but Dr Bostock says insomnia due to stress is likely to continue – given widespread anxiety about job losses and financial insecurity, and the perennial issues of work presentations, and new relationships returning.
“The last year has been such a rollercoaster that you’d think we’d be used to uncertainty by now, but that’s not always how it works,” she says. “Change of any kind can be unsettling. Worry often sneaks up on us in the middle of the night. We might fall asleep OK, but wake up in the early hours, thoughts churning.”
According to Dr Bostock, the process of merely writing down what is worrying you can be therapeutic. “Set aside 20 minutes in the afternoon or early evening to brainstorm what’s been keeping you awake. If it’s in your control, then make an action plan to do something to address it.” (Digging out old work clothes and sending them to the dry cleaners so you look reasonable at your first face-to-face work meeting, for example.)
“But if the problem is not in your control, acknowledge the worry, but let it go. Try to avoid conversations about worries before bed – instead, focus on what made you happy that day, or things you’re looking forward to in the future.
“Research shows that children who have a set bedtime routine, when you do the same things in the same order – such as a bath, book, cuddle and then lights out – tend to have more and better quality sleep than those without a set routine,” says Dr Bostock.
“Predictability and familiarity will help to calm the anxious mind, and improve your readiness for sleep. This works for adults, as well as their children.”
The good news is that experts think – after an initial bump – our sleep will improve. “This last year has been an u uncontrolled, global experiment in world sleep deprivation,” says Prof Leschziner.
But he hopes to see some im i immediate, positive effects. “As we co continue to unlock during the spring an and early summer, there will be a fe feel-good factor, and a feeling of fre freedom,” he explains. “Lifestyle ch changes will also help: when people no longer have to work from their bedrooms, it will improve their sleep hygiene.” (The school of th thought that dictates your bed sho should only be for sleeping, or sex.)
A As gym memberships become unfrozen and team sports resume, our renewed exercise regimes will also help us to sleep better, he adds: “This is a great time to preserve any good habits you’ve learned over the last year, and get rid of the bad ones.”
Don’t – then – be surprised if you feel a little more tired and anxious on Sleepy Sunday.
But do keep in mind the gloriously free summer to come, as the planet wakes up, and starts to come to life again.