Last year was when I was finally going to get a good night’s sleep. My youngest child was turning 4, and so the post-midnight disruptions for blanket fixes and stuffed-animal retrieval had ebbed. My work and home life were in predictable rhythms. On Tuesdays and Saturdays, I did hot yoga. I had a firm mattress recommended by many respectable online-review websites.
Instead, a pandemic killed over 2 million people and disrupted the patterns of our days and nights. "COVID insomnia” was a breakout Google search from March to today, as was "Why can’t I sleep during quarantine?” Studies from India to Italy indicate that sleep quality has been negatively impacted by COVID-related life changes.
My biggest issue has always been falling asleep. On a good night, it takes me 45 minutes to drop off; on bad nights, it can be close to two hours. This is not my first ride on the insomnia tilt-a-whirl — pre-pandemic, I had struggles falling asleep that came and went during periods of stress — so I know all of the adult sleep-hygiene tricks.