“Coronasomnia”: Why Sleep Arrhythmias Increased During the Pandemic

The pandemic situation we are going through has caused numerous sleep rhythm disturbances. That can take the form of insomnia, which is the difficulty of falling or staying asleep resulting in the perception of a non-restorative sleep, with fatigue and sleep throughout the day. Probably the most common condition, this is commonly seen in 20 percent of the population.

“A percentage of the world’s population suffers from insomnia at some point in their lives. And in this time of pandemic, there are some studies reporting that probably 50 percent of the population suffers from sleep disturbances during quarantine, ” the doctor emphasizes. Juan Facundo Nogueira, pulmonologist and specialist in sleep medicine at Hospital de Clínicas (MN 84970).

Pandemic or not, it’s hard to live with insomnia. Constant sleep problems or poor quality sleep can have long-term health consequences such as obesity, anxiety, depression, cardiovascular disease and diabetes. Insufficient sleep, which many health authorities say is less than seven hours a night, also affects work. Several studies have shown that it increases the likelihood of making mistakes, affects concentration and increases reaction time, as well as mood.

“The sleep problems have become ‘chronic and long-lasting’ ”Angela Drake, a professor of clinical health at the University of California, says that the pandemic has delayed treatment in some cases. People have sought medical attention only in emergencies, while some health care facilities have remained understaffed or overwhelmed by COVID-19 patients.

Suddenly, many of us become insomnia. With the pandemic in its second year, months of social aloofness shook up our daily routines, dissolving the boundaries of work life and constant insecurity in our lives, with disastrous consequences for sleep. This could pose serious problems for our health and productivity. However, the magnitude of the problem could lead to change, introduce new elements in the way we treat sleep disorders, and get our lives back on track..

This has to do with several factors. On the one hand it is fear of disease, pandemic, uncertainty. The great fear of infecting someone or loved ones and that they could suffer serious complications or even death as a result. That is a reasonable fear, and it is compounded by the lack of measures or treatments that can contain this pandemic.. We are still a long way from mastering it. And each case adds more uncertainty, because now we are in the phase where we start administering the vaccines and there is all the uncertainty as to whether we will have enough vaccines, says the Sleep Medicine Specialist.

“These fears come up mainly at night, during sleep. When someone goes to sleep, goes to bed, all worries and all processes or thoughts that occupy our mind during the day disappear and those thoughts or fears that are most important remain focused. In this case, they are generally dealing with the pandemic and the disease. So at night we go to bed and any fear we have of getting infected, that someone is infected, or if we have symptoms that are not clear to us and what we are concerned about, our head will unconsciously focus on those thoughts and they will. They will seem even more serious and serious to us, ”says Nogueira.

“To all this insecurity and all this fear comes the isolation, the fact that you cannot see family members, that you cannot see friends. This lack of close contact. In order not to touch us, hug us. Share a cup of coffee, share a partner, share a dinner. Everything that was very strict for so many months has led to situations of great depression. Sure there is an increase in the rates of depression in the general population, and this has insomnia as one of the main symptoms. Older people out there see that their life expectancy is not very long and they do not know how long they will have to be isolated because they are the main risk group and cannot see their children or grandchildren. There are concerns, procedures, or issues that must be addressed by family members that cannot be resolved. All of this also creates a situation of great anxiety, fear that will have a very negative impact on sleep, ”he added.

Dr. Steven Altchuler, a psychiatrist and neurologist specializing in sleep medicine at the Mayo Clinic (USA), points out that there are several factors at play. First, our daily routines and environments are disrupted, making it difficult to keep our circadian rhythm intact. Normally, our days run on a schedule of waking up, commuting, taking breaks and sleeping hours, but COVID-19 has shaken all of that up. “We have lost many of the external signals that are present in the office meetings, the scheduled lunch breaks,” says the specialist. “What you do while working remotely is interrupt your biological clock,” he said.

Another change that occurs during sleep during the pandemic is that of nightmares, which interrupt sleep, causing us to wake up in the middle of the night, sweaty, agitated, with tachycardia. And it has to do with this too, with the accumulation of stress, anxiety, fear, insecurity, fear. That all comes out while sleeping. These negative thoughts pulsate, pressurize and eventually overcome our conscience and turn into nightmares, awakening, and sometimes it is even difficult for us to fall back to sleep due to being stressed, anxious, or anguished.

Professor Angela Drake of the University of California says: “Your brain has been conditioned. You are always at your workplace and at work, and then at home and you are relaxing. There is a differentiation there. Now we are all at home all the timeTreating patients with sleep disorders, the expert also points out that when we work from home, we can move less and potentially be exposed to less natural light, which contributes to better sleep.

Several experts state that people rest well if there is no sleep during the day and they are active. If someone falls asleep within a few minutes at night, it is an indication of a good night’s sleep. In any case, the dizzying changes that were characterized by the COVID-19 pandemic led to a change in the modalities used and changed greatly after the appearance of the coronavirus.

How to reverse? “The first approach to insomnia in this situation always has to do with adjusting sleep hygiene measures first. Be very neat with schedules. Provide a very clear schedule. Coordinated with sunlight. A diet schedule, regular exercise, ideally outside of rest periods, as intense physical activity slows down and fragments sleep. A balanced diet, avoid very large dinners, excessive alcohol consumption because although it makes you sleepy it is very poor quality if you go to sleep with a large dose. And above all, the most important thing is to work on thoughts and consciousness. Try to do activities that relax us, such as yoga, any meditation technique, or just stretching and deep breathing exercises, ”says Nogueira.

On the other hand, he points out a sleep routine must be implemented. That is the first step. If that’s not right for us, we should try to consult a specialist and definitely try to implement behavioral therapy, something that will allow us to work on it, and also about the automatic thoughts that arise during sleep or at that time. we go to sleep, and that will help us develop tools to try to control those thoughts, to try to control our mind. According to Dr. Nogueira, “there is no need to block the mind with drugs, because that does not solve anything, all it does is delay the resolution of the problem. And above all, make us aware that the dream requires our attention. We need to put the dream on our agenda and organize our daily schedule based on the dream. Resting well is just as important as food, it’s just as important as affection, it’s just as important as breathing. It is a very important part of our life. Sleep is not only vital for our head, our brain, our intellectual functioning, but also for several vital functions of our body that need it ”.

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