Is Election Anxiety Keeping You Awake? Sleep Experts Share Advice
NEWS | 06 November 2024
Scientific American staff and sleep experts share advice on how to get better sleep in the stressful days leading up to the U.S. presidential election—and those that come after If the nerve-racking buildup to the U.S. presidential election has stolen your sleep, you’re not alone. An American Psychological Association survey released last week found that more than 82 percent of adults have felt that this election cycle “has been an emotional rollercoaster” and that 25 percent say they have lost sleep over it. But experts in the field have some good news: a few actionable, science-based steps can help. Since the moment the first campaign signs went up, sleep physician Sally Ibrahim says, she has been providing advice for what she calls “electsomnia.” “You can have acute insomnia or very short-term issues around sleep, like if you’re about to get married, for example. But election season drags on so much [that] people can develop these sort of chronic issues with their sleep loss,” says Ibrahim, a pediatric and adult sleep specialist at the University Hospitals health system in northeastern Ohio and an associate professor at the Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine. “What studies have found is our thoughts around our situation can be much more impactful than the situation itself.” On supporting science journalism If you're enjoying this article, consider supporting our award-winning journalism by subscribing. By purchasing a subscription you are helping to ensure the future of impactful stories about the discoveries and ideas shaping our world today. Anxiety about anything can disrupt sleep, but research suggests that unpredictable, high-stakes, world-scale events—such as the coming U.S. election—can have a particularly intense effect, says clinical psychologist Tony Cunningham, director of the Center for Sleep and Cognition at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Harvard Medical School. Cunningham ran a study that tracked people’s moods, mental health, alcohol consumption and sleep in 2020, right around that year’s presidential election and the COVID pandemic. He found that those who experienced more stress and depression on election day were more likely to have worse sleep that night. “Sleep was uniquely terrible, [as well as] almost every metric we collected,” Cunningham says. “Stress and negative mood were probably the most dramatically affected. There were several days of significant increase leading up to the election, and then it was kind of a slow-burn couple of days until it got back down to normal.” People reported napping more the day after the election, he adds. “Take stock of how you are doing in the moment, especially day-to-day, leading up to and following the election.” —Tony Cunningham, clinical psychologist The four-day delay in the 2020 voting results also likely worsened things, Cunningham says. He was surprised that even many non-U.S. study participants reported similar stress and shifts in sleep that rose and fell with the election cycle. “This is a major sociopolitical event that is driving an acute stress response in a large proportion of the population,” he says. Cunningham, who is collecting data again for the 2024 election, warns that people in the U.S. may experience a “double whammy” when the clocks switch from daylight saving time to standard time during the weekend before election day. This could be “particularly damaging” to sleep, he says. Luckily, there are ways to cope. “The first thing is just to try to acknowledge your feelings and recognize your limits,” Cunningham says. “Take stock of how you are doing in the moment, especially day-to-day, leading up to and following the election.” Cunningham also notes that research links overconsumption of news during stressful events to psychological distress. “There’s a level between being informed and then doomscrolling at four in the morning,” he says, adding that the latter “is not going to be helpful to you.” “Performance anxiety” about sleep can also beget less sleep. “We actually tell people with insomnia, ‘Don’t worry about not sleeping,’” Ibrahim says. “If I’m kind of revved up, I’m frustrated or I’m angry, my brain is not ready [for sleep],” she says. “That means I have to de-escalate whatever’s on my mind. I have to sit in a chair. I have to do some meditation, progressive muscle relaxation, whatever it is that gets me in the state of sleepiness. Once I’m sleepy, then I go to bed—no matter what time it is.” “I end every night (election season or not!) by listing my gratitude out loud.” —Arminda Downey-Mavromatis, associate engagement editor, Scientific American Ibrahim and Cunningham both note that it is well known that sleep can be disrupted by some substances—including alcohol, nicotine and caffeine, particularly when they are consumed close to bedtime. Ibrahim suggests taking a page from cognitive behavioral therapy: turn negative thoughts around and focus on things that provide gratitude and joy in your life. “If I practice it over and over again, those thoughts will in turn calm me down. It gives me peace and joy,” she says. “And those are the kinds of things that help not only our mental health but sleep.” At Scientific American, we’ve also been considering how to best get shut-eye as we cover this particularly fraught election—and whatever might come next. SciAm Tips for Avoiding Electosomnia I end every night (election season or not!) by listing my gratitude out loud. I do this with my partner, but you can do it alone as well. It’s nice to ground myself in the parts of the day that were enjoyable and positive! If a day is particularly horrendous, saying, “I’m grateful this day is over” is acceptable and cathartic. If I’m really wide awake and spiraling, I let myself sit in the anxiety and allow the feelings to move as they need to—forcing myself to “resolve” an unresolvable stressor doesn’t help much, if at all. Sometimes I’ll move into the living room and see if a change of scene helps. Accepting that I’ll be sleep-deprived weirdly helps. Being upset at myself for being, well, upset only makes everything worse. —Arminda Downey-Mavromatis, associate engagement editor I actually think that counting or counting backward, sheep or just numbers, helps (for me), although there’s some research that suggests it doesn’t. The most difficult thing is waking up in the middle of the night and not being able to get back to sleep. —Gary Stix, senior editor, mind/brain For physical relaxation, tense every single body part individually as much as you possibly can, without cramping, and then relax it. Start with your toes and move up to your calves, thighs, butt, abs, hands, forearms, biceps, back, neck and face. Flex each part hard for five seconds and then relax it and work your way up to the next part. And try to relax your facial muscles at the end. It’s harder than you think when you’re actively thinking. —Zane Wolf, graphics intern I listen to audiobooks with CozyPhones—headphones built into soft headbands so you can sleep in them. I like to listen to comfort reads that I’ve read many times, such as the Murderbot Diaries series, to help me go back to sleep—or, at the very least, to stop thinking about the election. —Clara Moskowitz, senior editor, space/physics I make sure I get at least some kind of exercise every day. And I listen to podcasts to fall asleep. It keeps me from reciting endless to-do lists or focusing on worries. —Andrea Thompson, associate editor, sustainability “Rituals of any kind are good, so my sleepy bedtime beverages are, if nothing else, an excellent soothing placebo.” —Rachel Feltman, host of the Science Quickly podcast, Scientific American When things got hairy during the pandemic lockdowns, I got into listening to guided meditation sessions. Hundreds are free online. There are a lot of duds, but a few seemed to really work. I looked for “guides” whose voice naturally put me at ease, nondistracting background sounds—and a narrative that didn’t take itself too seriously, overpromise or veer into anything I might consider flaky. Thirty minutes to an hour worked best for me. —Dean Visser, chief news editor There’s some good research on warm showers or baths before bed because they help simulate a natural nighttime temperature drop! I also drink tea with valerian, which is a sleep aid, and I drink tart cherry juice before bed because it apparently contains a small amount of melatonin. Also, rituals of any kind are good, so my sleepy bedtime beverages are, if nothing else, an excellent soothing placebo. —Rachel Feltman, host of the Science Quickly podcast I hate to say it because booze is fun and possibly kick-started human agrarian civilization, but I quit drinking. One of the several reasons I’ve cut out alcohol was how annoying it was to wake up feeling like I hadn’t slept at all. Instead, recently, I’ve been attempting to drown my stress about our dysfunctional democracy in the new wave of flavorful nonalcoholic beers. With just a little self-deception, some of the hazier varieties taste almost as good as the real thing. I might feel crummy about the U.S. after Election Day, but I won’t be hung over! —Ben Guarino, associate editor, technology When I can’t sleep, I like listening to the podcast Nothing Much Happens, in which the host, Kathryn Nicolai, tells bedtime stories. The Calm app also has bedtime stories, sometimes read by celebrities such as Matthew McConaughey. It’s very soothing! —Tanya Lewis, senior editor, health and medicine I don’t get to do this enough at night, but I do go for a walk during the day with no music or podcast—just me and the sounds of my local environment. It lets my brain focus on what is tangible and in front of me rather than all the abstracts about news. —Megha Satyanarayana, chief opinion editor I pick a category of things I know a bit about, and then I go through the alphabet and think of examples from that category that start with each letter—for instance, birds (avocet, bluebird, chickadee …), science terms (albedo, brown dwarf, C. elegans …) or good starting words for Wordle (audio, bayou, cause …) but not food terms because I’ll just get hungry. I might use parks (Acadia, Banff, Canyonlands, etcetera), but then I’ll get to Grand Staircase-Escalante and remember that Trump cut a bunch of national monuments and get upset and have to start all over again. Lately I’ve been trying positive adjectives: Amazing! Beautiful! Clever! Delightful! —Laura Helmuth, editor in chief
Author: Lauren J. Young.
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