It’s been now 4-years since Australia started going into lockdown over spread of the novel severe-acute respiratory relative coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) which had spread worldwide. And since that time many, if not most of us contracted the virus, in one variant or more, experiencing varying affect to our otherwise normal daily functioning. For those among you who got it bad, it likely included affect to your sleep! It’s been now 4-years since the Australia started going into lockdown over spread of the novel severe-acute respiratory relative coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) which had spread worldwide. And since that time many, if not most of us contracted the virus, in one variant or more, experiencing varying affect to our otherwise normal daily functioning. For those among you who got it bad, it likely included affect to your sleep!
Researchers in China (Sun et al. 2024) recently released findings from a major statistical (bibliometric) analysis of just about all the available published data on SARS-CoV-2 and sleep health between December 2019 and August 2023. This bibliometric review included over 25,000 articles on non- SARS-CoV-2 data with respect to sleep health, and came mostly from research by authors in China, USA, Italy, United Kingdom and Spain.Of the 4,500 international articles reviewed the authors found that across populations, sleep problems most frequently occurred in correlation with adverse mental health outcomes. In fact, the authors note the most recurring keywords were: “anxiety” and “depression”. Between 50-60% of all individuals, across ages 16-75 years reported adverse affect to normal sleep and among them over one third of all health workers reported worsened ability to initiate and/or maintain sleep during the pandemic. But the pandemic is over now! Back to normal sleep again, you might say.
Well, that may be so – but have you checked-in with your own sleep to see how you’re really going with life back to business-as-usual?
If you recall, public health policy during the height of the pandemic forced us indoors, meaning for some being isolated and alone, while others with family, friends and/or partners; and some for the better, but others for worse when it came to their mental health. Restrictions on normal social contact and time spent outdoors were further observed to correlate with reduced physical activity and increased electronic device usage, both of which are recognised in scientific literature for positive relationships with poor mental health outcomes: (Hamshari et al., 2024) and (Josefsson et al., 2014).
So, four years on, how would you rate your sleep? Would you say you are experiencing ongoing sleep problems since 2020 and now? Are you exercising regularly and working up at least a moderate puff? Are you engaged in ongoing, supportive social networks of family, friends and colleagues? Do you get much sunlight each day, and in particular, at least 15-30 minutes during the middle of the day? If you are doing most or all of these things, and you are not unwell, but still struggling with your sleep, we encourage you to speak with your doctor and share your concerns. The plague and the bed bugs don’t bite, but are you sleeping tight?
References cited:
1. Sun, H. L., Wang, Y. Y., Feng, Y., Cui, X., Cheung, T., Su, Z., Tang, Y. L., Ungvari, G. S., Ng, C. H., & Xiang, Y. T. (2024). COVID-19 and Sleep Problems: A Perspective from Bibliometric Analysis. Behavioral Sleep Medicine, 1–15. https://doi.org/10.1080/15402002.2023.2301412
2. Josefsson, T., Lindwall, M., & Archer, T. (2014). Physical exercise intervention in depressive disorders: Meta-analysis and systematic review. Scandinavian Journal of Medicine & Science in Sports, 24(2), 259–272. https://doi.org/10.1111/sms.12050
3. Hamshari, S., Yaseen, S., Zayed, M., Dalasha, A., Maraqa, B., & Nazzal, Z. (2024). Adolescents’ electronic devices use during the COVID-19 pandemic and its relationship to anxiety and depression levels: a cross-sectional study. BMC Psychiatry, 24(1), 38–38. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12888-023-05482-5
