12/10/2026
After two weeks of broken sleep, your brain starts making the same mistakes as someone who’s legally drunk.
Reaction times, emotional regulation, decision-making, memory – sleep disruption makes them all measurably worse.
But for new parents, this is daily life.
Your ability to function normally at work, behind the wheel, and through the night feeds is impaired.
Two things worth knowing:
1. The longer you go without enough sleep, the worse the effects get. So if someone offers to take the baby for two hours, use that time to sleep. Not taking a shower, not the laundry. Sleep.
2. Daylight in the first hour after waking helps more than coffee. It resets the circadian signal that bad nights disrupt. Even on a grey day, outside light is important.
If you feel persistently low and the exhaustion is not lifting even on better nights, then it’s worth a conversation with your GP. Sleep deprivation and postnatal depression can look identical so it’s important to tell them apart.
The Anya app has more guidance on sleep and parental wellbeing and is available 24/7.
Enter your Camden postcode to unlock full access to Anya for free: www.anya.health/download