Sleep disorders in the land of the midnight sun

For Whitehorse resident Charlie-Rose Pelletier, insomnia is something she's dealt with on a regular basis for the last two decades — but she says it became worse after she moved to the Yukon from Quebec a few years ago. 

"Sleeping for seven hours straight, for more than two nights in a row ... what a treat," she said in French, as she tried to cover up a yawn. 

"I'm going to be 30, it would nice to sleep."

Pelletier is not alone in her struggles. According to Statistics Canada, 25 per cent of Canadians are "dissatisfied" with their sleep. 

And some sleep clinicians say the challenges of getting good sleep may be greater for people living in the North.

Annie Vallières, with the School of Psychology at Laval University, says being "dissatisfied" with sleep doesn't necessarily mean that someone suffers from insomnia.

Vallières specializes in clinical health psychology, with a focus on sleep disorders. She says insomnia can be defined as having a hard time falling asleep or staying asleep.

Chronic insomnia is when the sleep disorder happens at least three times a week, for at least three consecutive months. 

Vallières also says there's more to it than just sleeplessness at night. 

"There's what we call 'distress,' that's present during the day," Vallières said in French, referring to how the sleep disorder can make it difficult to function during the day. 

"There are people that don't sleep at lot but they don't need to in order to function well. We won't call it 'insomnia' if there's no [daytime] distress," she said.

"Sleep disorders are associated with several mental and physical health risks, including depression." 

Jessica Engle, a psychologist at the Boreal Clinic in Whitehorse who specializes in sleep and insomnia, says there are studies suggesting that people living in the North — where the amount of daylight varies widely by season — are more affected by sleep disorders than those living further south where daylight exposure is more consistent through the year.

She says too much daylight, as in a northern summer, can trick the human brain and block crucial signals that usually remind the body that it's time to go to bed.