Share Your Sleep Story project aims to connect the data with the voices of the individuals who face the challenges of sleep, due to their profession, life-altering events, social, and environmental circumstances or sleep disorders to list a few. Through candid conversations, we seek to capture the often-overlooked variability in the impact of sleep and its loss on individuals’ lives. Our goal is to raise awareness, advocate for these groups, and influence policymakers to prioritize sleep as a key factor driving health outcomes, ultimately reducing the negative consequences for both individuals and society.
Created by Madhura Lotlikar, in collaboration with the Canadian Sleep Society
“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
“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
“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.
“Most people want day shifts, but not me. People have a hard time sleeping during the day, but I never had a problem. I can sleep anytime. 4-5 hours of sleep is enough for me. Night shift is just convenient for me” – Donald, an ICU nurse.
“We expect night-shift workers to continue to be fathers, mothers, daughters, wives and, sometimes, come home and take care of their older or sick parents and still perform their 105%.”– Beniamin, a nurse clinician
“A life with night shift work and lack of sleep is like a marathon that we impose on ourselves to try to reconcile family life, work and leisure but which has immediate and long-term consequences on the mind and body.” – Julie, night shift nurse