How does the COVID-19 fuel insomnia?

Abstract

One of the leading health consequences of the pandemic is the prevalence of sleep-related issues, such as insomnia. Hence, this study highlights the relationship between COVID-19 and insomnia and how insomnia is increasing due to the pandemic. The study's findings summarise that the COVID-19 pandemic has produced ubiquitous mental challenges, including loneliness, anxiety, fear, stress, extreme tiredness, and health concerns. It is also associated with physical issues such as social isolation, juggling work or study, parenting challenges, and significant behavior changes stemming from mass home confinement. There are also economic hardships, financial insecurity, risk, and infection. These factors lead to undoing routines and broken circadian rhythms amid the pandemic, affecting three sleep regulatory processes of the homeostatic sleep drive, the circadian rhythm, and the arousal system. Furthermore, we suggest future research directions to explore (1) long-term health impacts of the pandemic, (2) therapeutic strategies and the implementation of social policies to support people with sleep difficulties, (3) prevention programs and clinical interventions, and (4) nationwide or cross-regional online and practical psychological and sleep management intervention systems and platforms to address the psychological strain of isolation and traumatic experiences of the pandemic.

Insomnia symptoms predict longer COVID-19 symptom duration

“…The pandemic has also led to greater stress related to social isolation and loneliness, unemployment, grief, and fear of contracting the disease. These factors alone would be expected to negatively impact sleep (e.g., greater stress-related acute insomnia) [ [2] , [3] , [4] , [5] , [6] , [7] , [8] ]. Beyond this, however, the stay-at-home orders, prolonged social confinement, and culture shift to increased work-from-home during the pandemic may also have led to greater instances of insomnia, possibly owing to greater sleep opportunity [ 9 ].…”

Quality of Sleep and Work Productivity among White-Collar Workers during the COVID-19 Pandemic

“…However, the relationship between sleep locus of control and sleep quality during the pandemic has been less investigated. Apart from individual attitudes, various external factors such as social isolation, professional hardships, and changes in routine tasks, are important for sleep quality as well [ 20 , 21 ]. Worse sleep may in turn create a feedback loop and result in worse real-world outcomes for the individual.…”

Prevalence of Insomnia in the Early Post-COVID-19 Recovery Period

“…The study from 2022 indicates that the COVID-19 pandemic, through loneliness, anxiety, fear, stress, extreme tiredness, social isolation, juggling work or study, parenting challenges, significant behavior changes, and a variety of health concerns, is connected with widely spread mental health challenges. Individual and social hardships with financial insecurity have led to the disruption of circadian rhythms, affecting all sleep regulatory processes (homeostatic sleep drive, the circadian rhythm, and the arousal system) [ 36 ]. Thus, an assessment of insomnia and different sleep disorders requires an in-depth assessment of mental state.…”