COVID-19 and Sleep Disturbances: A Literature Review of Clinical Evidence

Abstract

The need for adequate good quality sleep to optimally function is well known. Over years, various physical, psychological, biological, and social factors have been investigated to understand their impact on sleep. However, understanding the etiological processes that are involved in causing sleep disturbances (SD) as impacted by stressful phases such as pandemics has not been well studied. Many such etiological and management strategies have surfaced during the latest “coronavirus disease of 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. The occurrence of these SD in the infected and uninfected individuals poses a need to investigate factors linked to such occurrence during this phase. Some of such factors include stressful practices such as social distancing, masking, vaccines, and medications availability, changes in routines, and lifestyles. As the status of infection improved, a collective term for all the prolonged effects of COVID-19 after the resolution of the primary infection called the post-COVID-19 syndrome (PCS) surfaced. Apart from impacting sleep during the infectious phase, the aftereffects of this virus left an even greater impact during the PCS. Various mechanisms have been hypothesized to be linked to such SD during the PCS, but the available data are inconclusive. Further, the varied patterns of incidence of these SDs differed by many factors, such as age, gender, and geographical location, making clinical management even more challenging. This review elucidates the impact of coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) (COVID) disease on sleep health during the various phases of the COVID-19 pandemic. We also investigate different causal relationships, management strategies, and knowledge gaps related to SD during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Stress at Work and Well-being Before and During the COVID-19 Pandemic

“…In our analyses, we found that sleep problems increased when the JSI worsened, and in addition, one of the COVID-19–related demands increased. Moreover, consistent with other research, 137 previous COVID-19 infection has been shown to be a risk factor for sleep problems. Of the other five health indicators, only psychosomatic complaints are predicted by a COVID-19 infection.…”

Device-assessed physical activity and sleep quality of post-COVID patients undergoing a rehabilitation program

“…The proportion was significantly higher than in a matched non-COVID-19 control group [49]. Obesity, female sex, duration of hospital stay, and mental health concerns are identified risk factors of experiencing sleep disturbances due to COVID-19 [28,47,48].…”

“…A systematic review revealed that the people infected with SARS-CoV-2 showed a prevalence of sleep disturbances of 52,4% [46] even several months after hospital discharge [47]. Sleep disturbances are characterised as problems falling or staying asleep and are mostly leading to daytime fatigue [48]. Even after 2 years of COVID-19 the prevalence is still high with 31%.…”

“…Because of the bidirectional association between sleep quality and immune response [54], there is reason to focus on the treatment of sleep disturbances for post-COVID recovery [55]. Particularly, the inflammatory storm triggered by COVID-19 is able to cause changes in circadian rhythm and lead to impaired sleep [48,54]. Vice versa sleep deprivation severely impairs the immune system functionality by disturbing the immune homeostasis [54,56].…”

Tracking Happiness in Times of COVID-19: A Bibliometric Exploration

“…In response to the SARS-CoV-2 threat, governmental authorities in various nations have instituted measures for social isolation to effectively manage the COVID-19 pandemic within their respective territories [27]. Subsequent investigations have revealed that such restrictions have been associated with adverse psychological effects, including anxiety and depression [28][29][30][31][32], sleep disturbances [33][34][35][36][37], and alterations in physical activity levels [36,38,39].…”