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Until recently, the connection between insomnia and medical morbidity remained unexamined. A factor that may have contributed to this lack of firm association between insomnia and significant medical morbidity is the definitions used for this disorder and a lack of validated aim/biological markers. Sleep literature sometimes uses the term insomnia to describe the evidence of disturbed sleep. Popular parlance construes insomnia as a long sleep latency, frequent nocturnal awakenings, or prolonged period of wakefulness during sleep period, or even frequent transient arousal. Thus, assuming insomnia to be both a symptom and a sign. It is a common sleep disorder that can make it hard to fall asleep, hard to stay asleep, causes one to wake up too early and not be able to get back to sleep, or makes one feel tired after waking up.
Almost everyone experiences insomnia from time to time as factors such as stress, jet lag, or even diet can affect the ability to get high-quality sleep. Meanwhile, there are certain groups of people such as people with genetic predisposition; women and older adults are at increased risk for developing insomnia compared to others. Likewise, certain situation e.g. mental health disorders, medications such as antidepressants, conditions such as heart disease, restless leg syndrome predisposes one more to insomnia.
The chronic stress of living through the uncertainty of a pandemic can lead to a host of physical symptoms, including persistent headaches, memory lapses, and digestive problems. The COVID-19 outbreak and its resulting lockdown especially triggered a sharp increase in anxiety related sleeping problems, giving plenty reasons for anyone to lose sleep. Sleep is a critical biological process, and as individuals juggle the mental, physical, and emotional demands of the pandemic, it’s arguably more important than ever. However, social isolation, loss of employment, financial problems, illness and fear of getting infected with coronavirus and the pressures of juggling work and home-schooling all contributed to the rising trend. Some COVID-19 survivors develop severe insomnia because they think something horrible is going to happen to them.
Before the pandemic, the increasing rates of insomnia and its impact on physical and emotional health was a major health challenge. This and the prevailing COVID-19 situation, the enormous changes in routines and decreased activity for many people, sleep expert say the corona virus has caused a second pandemic of insomnia. “Insomnia was a problem before COVID-19, now from what we know anecdotally, the increase is enormous” said a UC Davis Health clinical professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences.
WRITTEN by- Bada Basirat
EDITED by: Ezebuiro Lois
REFERENCES
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- Dennis C (August, 2020). Coronavirus lockdown caused sharp increase of insomnia in UK. Retrieved from https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.theguardian.com/society/2020/aug/02/coronavirus-lockdown-increase-insomnia-uk-sleep-mothers
- Julio F, & Alexandros N (December,2014). Insomnia and Its Impact on Physical and Mental Health. Retrieved from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3972485/
- https://health.ucdavis.edu/health-news/newsroom/covid-19-is-wrecking-our-sleep-with-coronasomnia–tips-to-fight-back-/2020/09