Share Your Sleep Story

« Je me réveillais et j’avais chaud, chaud, chaud! Je tassais les couvertures et je me rendormais, puis je me réveillais à nouveau trois secondes plus tard et je remettais les couvertures. » – Mary

“I would wake up hot, hot, hot! I would take the sheets off and then fall back to sleep and then wake up three seconds later and put the sheets back on.” -Mary

“When I was in school, I would get up to ten sleep attacks per day. I would get episodes of very sudden sleepiness, very sudden brain fog and fatigue, which is impossible to fight. [It is] a state of half-awake and half-asleep. I don’t know what’s going on. I’m not alert, but I’m not asleep either.” – Sofia

« Quand j’étais à l’école, j’avais jusqu’à dix attaques de sommeil par jour. J’avais des épisodes de somnolence très soudaine, de brouillard cérébral et d’épuisement très soudains, impossibles à combattre. » -Sofia

“When you haven’t slept for 2-3 days, it is very unsettling to go to bed. I was worried about sleeping. I wasn’t really living. I was just exhausted. I was getting paranoid. I was desperate to sleep, but I just couldn’t.” – Janet

« Quand tu n’as pas dormi depuis 2-3 jours, c’est très perturbant d’aller se coucher. J’étais inquiète à l’idée de dormir. Je ne vivais pas vraiment. J’étais juste épuisée. Je devenais paranoïaque. J’avais désespérément envie de dormir, mais je ne pouvais juste pas. » – Janet

“I don’t see much literature on driving home after dayshift. You are working 12 hours in a stressful situation; you haven’t slept well, and your circadian rhythm is messed up. It’s difficult to drive home even if it is during regular hours.” – Norah, a nursing graduate

When policymakers and employers fail to acknowledge the importance of rest, they contribute to burnout, health risks, and safety hazards. By implementing smarter shift schedules, caregiver support, workplace education and resources, we can create a culture that values sleep as a fundamental human right.

“Even if we decide to sleep during the day to be able to work at night, it is very hard. It is very hard to say ‘no’ EVERY TIME- not to go out and not follow others when everyone else is enjoying because you must sleep.” – Josée Gobeil, a nightshift nurse

“Sleep fascinates me. The more I learned, the more I understood the magnificent things that the brain does when we are sleeping” – Maria, an Occupational Therapist.