WORCESTER, Mass. - The COVID-19 pandemic changed the way we go about our daily routines, and it turns out it's also affecting our sleep patterns.

Medical Director of the Saint Vincent Hospital Sleep Lab, Dr. Anthony Izzo, says the hospital is seeing an increase in chronic insomnia. He says anxiety around losing a job, getting the virus, and remote learning are a few contributing factors.

The hospital is expanding its Sleep Lab with a new testing technology allowing patients to track their sleep patterns at home and pass the information to doctors who can help evaluate and treat sleep disorders.

Dr. Izzo says there are ways to identify if your insomnia is brought on by the pandemic.

"I think as a nation we all have trouble sleeping, I think we are not great sleepers in the United States and I think there is a lot of different factors that play into it. Certainly, new changes in sleep patterns that have happened since February or March when the pandemic started to roll in and quarantine started to happen," Dr. Izzo said. "Those types of changes that people can link right to the start of the pandemic and quarantine are indicators that this is not just your garden variety insomnia."

Dr. Izzo says most people can treat insomnia on their own rather than take medication.

He says a couple basics to help with sleep include, exercising during the day, giving yourself and hour before bed to wind down, and avoid using your phone​ before bed.