“Some amount of change is acceptable, as long as it is not hampering schooling and other daily activities. Due to the lack of a proper schedule, they are waking up at odd hours and then are naturally drowsy,” she says, advising parents to try finding a balance in these disruptive times. “I’ve been getting calls from parents complaining about their kids sleeping at 3am and later. Of course, once in a while, it is normal to have a disrupted sleep cycle but if it becomes more of a norm rather than an exception, then it would require looking into,” adds Brahmbhatt.Īccording to psychiatrist Anita Sukhwani of MANN-Healthy Mind Centre, one of the biggest reasons for this rise in sleep inertia in recent times is due to the circadian rhythm (a natural, internal process that regulates the sleep-wake cycle and repeats roughly every 24 hours) being challenged, especially by adolescents. “In extreme cases, clients have mentioned that after a long nap in the afternoon they can’t figure out if it’s morning or evening. Symptoms may include feelings of confusion, mental fog and lethargy in addition to those I’ve cited above in my own case.
It is a state where one wakes up not feeling completely awake, and this is often accompanied by impaired cognitive and motor skills. After several conversations with friends facing this similar morning ‘sickness’ and a session with my own counsellor, I now know that I have been experiencing sleep inertia, a disorder that is fairly prevalent but one that often goes undetected due to lack of awareness, according to Mumbai-based psychologist and counsellor Aekta Brahmbhatt of Inner Growth Counselling, “It has certainly increased in the lockdown as sleep cycles have gotten completely disrupted due to increased gadget use and unmonitored screen time.” What exactly is sleep inertia?