World Sleep Day raises awareness on mental and physical wellness during COVID-19

March 18th marks “World Sleep Day” – an initiative with the aim of raising awareness about the importance of quality sleep.

This annual event highlights getting a healthy amount of daily rest and raises awareness of an individual’s mental and physical well-being.

The day is organized by the World Sleep Society, an organization with the mission to advance sleep health worldwide and educate viewers on the importance of sleep on this World Sleep Day, according to the World Sleep Society.

This year, the importance of a healthy rest on an individual’s mental health is being highlighted by the ongoing pandemic, according to the World Sleep Society.

Margaret Eaton, the CEO of the Canadian Mental Health Association says recent research suggests nearly half of Canadian adults struggle with sleep –  with10 percent experiencing insomnia.

Eaton says there are plenty of negative impacts of poor sleep, or a lack of

“Stress can trigger a lot of sleep problems and poor sleep puts you at risk of developing mental health issues like anxiety, depression, and addiction. It can also be a sign you have a mental health problem. So about 80 per cent of people with mental illnesses have sleep problems,” says Eaton.


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The Canadian Mental Health Association (CMHA) is urging Canadians to understand the link between quality sleep and positive mental health.

According to the CMHA those who suffer from lack of sleep are up to five times more anxious, four times more at risk of depression, and seven times more likely to fall into some sort of addiction.

Eaton says the pandemic has forced some people to sacrifice sleep as a crucial element of their life.

“People that are working from home find that work is bleeding into their home life. And sometimes work ends up being done at difficult hours because you are juggling children or caring and feeding of pets so we push the clocks and that can be really tough on mental health,” says Eaton.


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“Our emotions and our thoughts can actually disrupt our sleep or it can even prevent you from getting to sleep. So people with insomnia sometimes seek out psychological help and psychotherapy to deal with emotions that they’re not dealing with during the day, but the body and the brain want to think about at night,” says Eaton.

As part of the partnership – Sleep Country Canada will be donating a portion of proceeds from all sales from today to the Canadian Mental Health Association, up to $100,000, to help enable better sleep and wellbeing for everyone.

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