Sleep is not big deal, until you’re not getting any

THE SLEEP CHRONICLE COMMENTARY –  Sleeping during COVID has become a nightmare, even for me, someone who pre-COVID could collapse into a sleep comma almost anywhere, anytime.

I never fully understood or appreciated the trials of the sleep deprived until I began to experience them myself. For me, my troubles began at the height of COVID,. Of course, we really should not reference COVID’s height because no one is sure this pandemic has peaked. Sigh…

This, and other pandemic-related worries, have me up at night. As bad as not getting sleep can be, I am now alternating in between insomnia – – and over-sleeping like a teenager. Although I am not waking up at noon and raiding the refrigerator, I am arriving to my desk as late as 8 a.m.. This, for a business owner is like a full vacation day.

Full transparency: I am raiding the refrigerator, but it’s generally during the late night hours that fast food drive-thrus keep. The scale is not my friend.

NOT NEW, BUT CONCERNING

About a third of American adults got in a good seven hours of sleep nightly pre-pandemic. That’s the number the well-rested professionals recommend at the American Academy of Sleep Medicine, according to 2016 data from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Of course, many like me, are late arrivers among the legions of the “Sleepless in “America” crowd.  In fact, for newcomers, the condition now has a name. It’s “Coronasomnia.”

Yes, sleep is elusive and I’m staying up late searching for a cure.

And, when I’m up, I’m online, which is one of the things sleep experts say is a sure sleep killer. I find interesting posts, which lead to other interesting posts and that, of course, contributes to more sleep difficulties.

For now, I’m a well-informed insomniac who would like to be cured. Meanwhile, I found an informative article by CNN’s Matt Villiano entitled “How the pandemic is contributing to your insomnia.” Read it before 6 p.m. all. Goodnight.

Editor’s note: The omission of our commentary author’s name is not an oversight. Our editors occasionally accommodate such requests upon verification of the author’s validity and  respective request for privacy.