It started with a hashtag added to a tweet to look pretty. Two years and five waves of the pandemic later, while sleep problems are still very present, the #club2à4 has become a virtual space where insomniacs talk to each other and also have a little fun.
Posted yesterday at 4:00 p.m.
This is not a support group or a “hotline”. Launched lightly in March 2020 by host, producer and “Twitter addict” Marie-France Bazzo, #club2à4 has become a hashtag around which we tweet between night owls. “2 to 4” because 2 to 4 a.m. is his typical waking time. “I have a very conflictual relationship with sleep, explains Marie-France Bazzo. Insomnia, I had it before, it was not born with the pandemic. But it was neutral insomnia. I was not depressed. I was going to have a light load, I could cook, I could do nothing, I could twitter. I came to tell myself that I sleep like that. I sleep little and I sleep in two cycles. »
When she wrote this hashtag in March 2020, she realized that her insomnia had become inseparable from the anxiety-provoking nature of confinement.
PHOTO DAVID BOILY, LA PRESSE ARCHIVES
Producer and host Marie-France Bazzo
It’s pandemic anxiety. It’s crystal clear in my case. It’s really another insomnia.
Marie-France Bazzo, producer and host, behind the hashtag #club2à4
Then people started responding to him. Insomniacs from all walks of life who, like her, dragged their worries and anxieties on Twitter in the depths of the night. They reveal their state of mind, their worries, their suggestions for reading or TV series.
Comfort
Insomniac since childhood, Annie Mathieu found comfort in this informal club, especially at the start of the pandemic. “At the Prime Minister’s press conferences, during those nights, before and sometimes after, when there was big news, I would have anxiety and I would wake up systematically every night, around 3 a.m. morning,” she said.
The #club2à4, it allows you to be less alone. We say to ourselves: I have anxiety, I can’t sleep and I know that I have to sleep, I’m working tomorrow, but that allows you to spend half an hour or an hour putting your attention on something other than COVID as such.
Annie Mathieu, insomniac
The nocturnal Twittersphere is very different from that of the day, notes Marie-France Bazzo. “At night, I speak with people, whereas in general, I express opinions, I hardly look at the comments and I intervene little in the discussion once it is said. Whereas there, there is really a conversation which engages. We are not in social issues, not in politics. We are really in the daily life, even in the intimacy of people. »
“I understand the open line facilitators who say that it’s very different, the night clientele, she continues. There is something very peaceful. We really have the feeling of being in a separate bubble. »
Obviously, opening your phone in the middle of the night to go on social networks is not part of the practices to adopt to fight insomnia. It’s even the opposite. But for many, it is stronger than anything.
“We find ourselves, we realize that we are not alone in not sleeping, in asking ourselves questions, in having anxiety, underlines Marie-France Bazzo. Because I think that many of us are anxious about the pandemic, about confinement, about what will no longer be like before, what will change? »
Insomnia on the rise
Many, yes. “The prevalence rate of insomnia doubled, if not tripled, during the first wave of the pandemic compared to the data that we usually have when we conduct this kind of survey”, underlines Charles M. Morin, professor at the School of Psychology at Université Laval and holder of the Canada Research Chair in Sleep Disorders. Between May and August 2020, he conducted with several collaborators an international study on the prevalence of insomnia, anxiety and depression in 13 countries, including Canada. Nearly 22,000 adults were surveyed using a web questionnaire. The results, published in the journal sleep medicine last November, show that 47% of Canadian respondents had symptoms related to insomnia (difficulty falling asleep or staying asleep) while 26% probably suffered from an insomnia disorder (difficulty sleeping accompanied by , fatigue, low energy and mood problems).
“It was not a random survey, specifies the researcher. People were invited to complete a questionnaire. So, you might think that people who were more concerned about sleep problems volunteered more, but the numbers are quite telling and much higher than what you get in other times. »
Data collected by his team as part of an epidemiological survey spanning 10 years across Canada also show a sharp increase in the prevalence of insomnia. “During the pandemic, we surveyed again the people who had completed our last survey in 2018 and again, the rates were very, very high. There really was a very marked increase in new cases of insomnia. »
PHOTO ANDRÉ PICHETTE, LA PRESSE ARCHIVES
Charles M. Morin, professor at the School of Psychology at Laval University and holder of the Canada Research Chair in Sleep Disorders
Usually, we are talking about about 5% of new cases each year. We had at least double that in 2020.
Charles M. Morin, professor at the School of Psychology at Laval University and holder of the Canada Research Chair in Sleep Disorders
Other studies conducted since tend to show that this increase is continuing, adds Mr. Morin.
To avoid developing chronic insomnia, he advises putting aside electronic devices at least an hour before going to bed, giving yourself a relaxation period between the end of work and the moment of going to bed, and to maintain a fairly regular sleep schedule, which means going to bed and getting up at regular times even if you have some sleep to catch up on.
And what about going for a walk at #club2à4? “I think any form of support groups can be very helpful when managed well. Some will convey information that is not always valid. But indeed, there are many people who suffer from chronic insomnia and who feel quite alone in the world. »