US election caused Britons’ worst sleep since lockdown began

Britons lost sleep, went to bed later and slept more fitfully during the tumultuous first night of the US 2020 election, according to new data.

Figures from the Swedish sleep tracking app Sleep Cycle show that UK users lost an average of 21 minutes of kip on the night of Nov 3, compared to the same day the previous week.

Users also reported their quality of sleep dropping by an average of 4.5pc week on week as political anoraks stayed up late or woke up early to follow the drama.

Another app, the Prague-based Sleep as Android, saw UK users’ average sleep duration falling to its lowest point since the beginning of lockdown, when sudden freedom from the morning commute led to a sustained improvement.

A previous study using Sleep As Android’s data found that the Brexit vote in 2016 cut 16 minutes and 21 seconds from Britons’ average’ Thursday rest, while the election of President Donald Trump later that year deprived Americans of 12 minutes and 49 seconds.

Britons lost sleep over the US 2020 election

Jan Marek, the app’s data analyst, said that this year’s difference from expected sleep in the UK had been "rather minor", especially compared to the sea change caused by Covid-19, but "more pronounced" on the US East Coast, where people went to bed 20 minutes later and slept 20 minutes less.

Sleeptracker AI, a sleep data company, likewise said that election night had slashed Americans’ average repose by around half an hour from the previous week, as well as raising their heart rates.

Britons had already lost some shut-eye at the weekend due to the end of Daylight Saving Time on Saturday Oct 31, which often disturbs people’s slumber by disrupting their circadian rhythms despite offering an "extra" hour in theory.

Although such changes can last for several days, election night stood out from that trend in both Sleep Cycle and Sleep As Android’s data.

Other countries also tuned in. According to Sleep As Android, sleep duration in the rest of the world dropped to its lowest level since June as billions of people waited to find out whether they would be living with the foreign policy of Mr Trump or his rival Joe Biden.

Britain's average sleep quality declined during the US 2020 election

Germans stayed up about 16 minutes later than usual to watch results trickle in from America’s distant time zones. By contrast, Californians and other denizens of the US West Coast stayed true to their easy-going reputation – and their advantageous time difference – with only a minor loss.

However, once the election had been called for Joe Biden on Nov 7, British users appear to have taken a well-deserved rest. Sleep Cycle’s figures show them going to bed eight minutes earlier than the previous Saturday, and enjoying 16 minutes of extra sleep.