Sleep Disruption During the Pandemic

 

How has the COVID pandemic impacted sleep?  Not simply the sleep of people who have contracted COVID-19, but also those that did not but whose sleep was impacted by lockdowns, the stress, etc? 

This is a significant public health issue.  And a new meta-analysis on this topic has just been published.  A sample of the findings:

The current systematic review and meta-analysis of 250 studies comprising about half-million participants revealed that during the COVID-19 pandemic, the pooled estimated prevalence of sleep disturbances (including poor sleep quality and insomnia), independent of any covariate, was 40%. ....Patients infected with COVID-19 appeared the most affected by sleep disturbances, with an overall pooled rate of 52%. Children and adolescents were the second most affected group, with an overall rate of sleep disturbances of approximately 46%. Healthcare workers, university students, and special populations had a similar magnitude of the problem, with an overall rate of approximately 41%. The general population appeared the least affected by the pandemic, with an overall prevalence of sleep disturbances of about 36%. Poor sleep quality appeared as the main problem and explained 52% of the variance in the data.

Cheers, Colin