Sleep researchers help Canadians understand their sleep

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Did you sleep well? For growing numbers of Canadians, the answer is a weary No.

Whether it is related to general stress, more specific — maybe U.S. President Donald Trump-related — stress or other lifestyle factors, sleep researchers are seeing concerning signs about how Canadians are sleeping.

“We know that a lot of Canadians are not getting the right amount of sleep,” says Rebecca Robillard, who is co-chair of the Canadian Sleep Research Consortium. Robillard also directs clinical sleep research at the University of Ottawa Institute of Mental Health Research at The Royal.

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“A lot of people are sleep-deprived and a lot are having insomnia symptoms.”

Sleep is a key contributor to overall health, sleep experts say, and poor sleep quality can cause real health harms.

“Canada has a way to go to improve our sleep health to the same extent we have been seeing for nutrition and exercise,” says Robillard.

The Sleep Research Consortium is inviting Canadians to take part in an online program to learn more about sleep and to track their own sleep. It is part of the Week for Better Sleep initiative. Participants have until March 22 to sign up.

Knowing more about what makes good quality sleep and helping people understand their own sleep is an important step toward improved sleep and making sure people reap its benefits, Robillard says.

Recent research by the Sleep Research Consortium suggests many Canadians are not.

According to a survey conducted in the fall of 2024, insomnia is increasing, with higher rates among women, and growing numbers of people in Canada are using aids to help them get to sleep. Nearly 15 per cent of people surveyed were using prescription medicine to sleep and the percentage of people using alcohol had doubled in the past 16 years (to 9.7 per cent).

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Robillard notes that alcohol might help people to fall asleep, but it would disrupt their quality of sleep. “It is really concerning,” she says.

As part of the effort to educate people about sleep and give them feedback, the Sleep Research Consortium has developed a sleep diary app based on six dimensions of sleep health: duration, continuity, timing, alertness, regularity and satisfaction.

It is not just about the number of hours of sleep people get, but the quality of that sleep, she says. And Robillard cautions that becoming too obsessed about sleep can itself be a stressor that disrupts sleep. Setting realistic expectations is important, she says.

“Sometimes people get overly worried about their sleep.”

People who sign up can learn more about their own sleep through personalized assessments. Participants are given information, asked to fill out questionnaires and invited to fill out sleep diaries each morning for a week. At the end of the week, participants will receive personalized reports on their sleep. Participation is anonymous.

More information is available at the https://www.researchsleep.ca/week-for-better-sleep website.

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