These days, it seems like a good night’s sleep is hard to come by. For many Canadians, comfort isn’t the culprit – it’s ongoing stress stemming from political uncertainty and economic tension that’s keeping us up at night. The daily news cycle seems to be full of bad news, whether it’s stock market dips, the upcoming federal election and threats of more tariffs and annexation from the President south of the border. All said, it can be hard to get quality sleep when the world outside feels unpredictable.
Quick Overview
A recent survey from Endy found that 47 per cent of Canadians said their quality of sleep has decreased as a result of the current daily news cycle. In addition, 39 per cent of respondents specified that their sleep quality has declined since tariff threats from U.S. President Donald Trump began. One in three said they’ve been having difficulty disconnecting from the news before bed over the past month.
Stress is on the rise, and many Canadians are feeling stressed out. Recent surveys have shown that people in Canada are less happy than they were last year, according to the 2025 World Happiness Report, and unhappier than they’ve ever been since the survey began polling 20 years ago.
Recently, Yahoo Canada asked readers whether the current political climate is impacting their mental health. Nearly 10,000 readers weighed in, and 60 per cent answered “yes, I feel anxious and worried.”
Sleeping can be difficult when stressful events keep popping up on our news feeds — but sleep is paramount for our health. It helps the body recover, improves cognitive function and helps strengthen the immune system, among many other benefits.
With this in mind, Yahoo Canada asked sleep expert Amanda Jewson, founder of Baby’s Best Sleep, to provide practical, science-backed advice on how to get better quality sleep in times of heightened political stress. Plus, we asked Jewson for her top products to help get a good night’s sleep.
How ongoing stress can fuel insomnia
As a sleep expert, Jewson helps a wide range of Canadians with their sleep, including new parents, fussy babies and older folks. In recent months, she’s noticed an uptick in adult clients who say they’re having trouble sleeping. According to Jewson, insomnia is an inability to fall asleep, or inability to fall back to sleep in the middle of the night.
“Insomnia isn’t a one day thing. It’s usually a series of habits and behaviours that have been developed over time,” she said. “A lot of people have just reached that tipping point where they don’t want to do this anymore — it’s been three or four months and they are looking to get some relief.”
Many insomnia cases she’s helping to treat actually date back to 2020 and stem from pandemic-related stressors and the onslaught of information overload.
“Any sort of stress is a usual tipping point for insomnia — any event or thing that happens to create ongoing or prolonged stress,” she said. Common stressful events that can lead to insomnia include COVID, a divorce, a separation, a death, or the birth of a child.
“With regards to the political environment, the 24-hour news cycle that we’ve been in since 2020, the on and off stress of COVID and talks of tariffs, people are experiencing a constant ongoing stress exposure,” Jewson said. “Our bodies are not built for this ongoing exposure. That’s a lot of cortisol, that’s a lot of adrenaline. And we bring our stress into our bedrooms.”
Expert-approved sleep tips
Here are Jewson’s tips for getting a good night’s sleep during politically stressful times:
1. Keep your regular sleep schedule
When people are tossing and turning and get a terrible night’s sleep, they might try to compensate the next night by going to bed earlier than usual. It may seem logical to try and “make up” for the lost hours of sleep, but it doesn’t really work.
If your body is used to going to bed at 10 or 11 p.m., going to bed at 8 p.m. or 9 p.m. will actually throw the body off its natural rhythm. “The biology doesn’t line up because our melatonin production isn’t happening at 8 o’clock, it’s happening later,” Jewson said. “We need homeostatic sleep pressure, which builds pressure throughout the day, kind of like hunger.”
“Even if you had a crappy night of sleep, your sleep pressure may not be where you want it to be at 8:30 or 9 p.m., so then what happens is you toss and you turn and you lay in bed awake.”
Instead, Jewson suggests keeping your regular bedtime — even if you had a lousy night’s sleep the day before.
2. Don’t force sleep
According to Jewson, the worst thing people can do is lay in bed and ruminate on their stressors.
“Subconsciously, your body develops behaviours to say this bed is a stressful place, because how insomnia starts is a fear of what happened the night before: I don’t want to experience wakefulness in bed. I am afraid,” Jewson said. Now, cortisol and adrenaline levels are high, the nervous system is activated at times when it shouldn’t be, and the behaviour repeats.
Instead of tossing, turning and ruminating, consider getting up and doing an activity. “Don’t force sleep. So if sleep isn’t coming within the first 20 minutes, get out of bed and do something relaxing,” she said. “Avoid your phone, read a book, read a magazine, some people colour, or some gentle stretching.”
3. Set boundaries around news
Although it might be difficult, Jewson said it’s important to try to set some boundaries around news, especially if it’s stressing you out. Many of her clients say they keep their phone right next to their bed.
“We don’t want to be alert and aware at 11 p.m. after we just read this scary thing about tariffs, and we’re worried about the stock market and we’re worried about our job the next day,” she said. “Those continuous stress triggers do impact the quality of sleep.”
When it comes to news intake, Jewson suggests limiting it to at least an hour before bed. Upon waking, she suggests doing something else rather than scrolling. “Put your phone in a different room so it’s not tempting and give yourself a boundary in the morning.” For example, tell yourself you won’t look at the news until 9 a.m., after you go for a walk or meditate, or set specific times to mindfully check the news, like at 9 a.m., 12 p.m. and 5 p.m, and that’s it.
4. No phones in the bedroom
It’s common sleep advice: keep your phone in another room at night. However, this is easier said than done. Many of us use the alarm clock on our phones to wake up in the morning, or use white noise apps to fall asleep, for example. Jewson gets this. “Change is hard. We’re creatures of habit, and it’s hard to do that,” she said.
Phones emit blue light, which the body understands as sunlight. “When the sun is up, we should be awake and so we don’t produce the same amount of melatonin,” Jewson explained. Even old school alarm clocks can emit blue light that can impact your sleep. Instead, consider using a sunrise alarm clock that gently wakes sleepers.
For clients who need more help, Jewson comes up with a plan to tackle sleeplessness, including Cognitive Behaviour Therapy for Insomnia sessions.
5. Don’t ‘do something’ to sleep
“Another hot tip that I tell people: don’t ‘do a thing’ to sleep,” Jewson said. “We call this perceived efforts to sleep.” This term refers to conscious mental and physical attempts people do to get to sleep, like forcing themselves to count sheep or consciously focusing on falling asleep.
“The brain says, I did a thing, is it working?” Jewson said. “Basically, the brain is staying online to monitor whether or not the intervention is working, so don’t do a thing to sleep.”
6. Take meaningful action
Though the current news cycle can be stressful, Jewson said being informed is an important aspect of being a part of a democracy. And next, what are you doing with that information? Maybe it’s getting more involved politically, helping out a neighbour, or joining a community group.
“It may feel overwhelming, but we know that actionable things reduce stress,” she said. “Maybe I didn’t like what I read in the news, so I made my elderly neighbour dinner and it made me feel like I was part of a human society.”
“Try to take your feelings of despair and do something about it,” Jewson continued. “It doesn’t have to be political, it can be something that makes you feel good in your community. Do something and it can complete that stress response.”
Expert-approved products to help you get a better night’s sleep
“I really like a sunrise alarm clock. It typically has orange light so it wakes you up by mimicking sun exposure. And it wakes you during the lightest part of your sleep in the morning,” Jewson said. “People tend to report feeling really well rested after using them. I’ve used one personally for nine years now and will not go back.”
“I cannot stress this enough, having a good pillow based on how you sleep — whether you’re a side sleeper, a tummy sleeper, or a back sleeper — is so important,” Jewson said. “If you have a super high pillow, but you’re a stomach sleeper, that’s going to ruin your neck and back alignment and give you pain.”
“So I love an adjustable pillow. You can take out the memory foam and adjust as needed based on your preferred sleeping style.”
“People constantly tell me, I’m a hot sleeper, but they’re not doing anything to change that,” Jewson said. “Thinking about bedding, breathability is so key.”
“Look for brands that offer temperature-regulated options, so anything with linen, bamboo, or cotton, especially as we head into the summer months. It’s a little bit pricey, but it’s totally worth it.”
“Noise is a huge one for my clients, so I really like any white noise machine, or even an air purifier — something else for your brain to focus on,” Jewson said. “It can help reduce noise pollution, whether it’s someone opening or shutting the door, a garbage truck, or a stray cat outside.”
“I love a good blackout eye mask. Canadians need something in the springtime, because the sun comes up so early, whether it’s blackout blinds or sleeping with an eye mask,” Jewson said.
“Look for a full blackout eye mask that has cushioning around the eye to create those blackout conditions so you don’t see any light. Light triggers the brain to wake up. So if you don’t feel rested, black out eye masks, especially when you’re traveling, are amazing.”
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