Top 5 Causes of Sleep Problems in the COVID-19 Crisis

These are the top causes of sleep problems during the coronavirus pandemic.

For more than a year, the coronavirus crisis has infiltrated every aspect of our lives, from the personal and private to the professional and public.

What started out as a health problem, affecting mainly physical health, quickly became a social, economic and even political problem with implications for the way we behave, feel and think.

It is therefore not surprising that one of the facets of everyday life that the pandemic has had a major influence on is our ability to get enough sleep and enough hours. After all, we devote a large part of our day to this activity, and our well-being depends on it. That is why, in this article, we are going to talk about The main causes of sleep problems triggered by the COVID-19 crisis..

Why is lack of sleep a major psychological problem?

Let's start by clarifying why the impact on sleep quality of a crisis like COVID-19 needs to be taken seriously.

Many people assume that not sleeping well or not sleeping for enough hours generates, at most, a feeling of malaise that lasts for most of the next day. However, the truth is that the negative consequences of this kind of problem go beyond the feeling of discomfort and have objective, not just subjective, implications.not only subjective.

The simple fact of sleeping badly in a single day of rest gives rise to these short-term imbalances:

• Serious difficulties concentrating on tasks, conversations, etc.
• Reduced ability to memorize and recall memories.
• Greater predisposition to irritability and to react with frustration or anger to unforeseen events.
• Greater predisposition to adopt an attitude of passivity: the person is less involved in any action.

In addition, if these sleep problems accumulate over the course of days, other psychological problems appear in the medium and long term, other psychological problems appear in the medium and long term.. The most significant are the following:

• Increased risk of developing anxiety disorders.
• Increased risk of developing mood disorders.
• Increased chances of falling into the consumption of legal or illegal addictive substances.

And, of course, to all this we must add the physical health problems, such as a greater predisposition to obesity and Cardiovascular diseases, accelerated aging, and other alterations that could even lead to death if the situation is prolonged too long and too little sleep.

The main causes of sleep problems in the coronavirus pandemic.

Obviously, during the coronavirus crisis it is possible to have very diverse sleep problems, and based on a wide plurality of causes. Moreover, rarely does a psychological problem have a single trigger; it is always necessary to speak of multi-causality.

However, if we concentrate the focus on the causes of sleep problems characteristic of this era, the following should be highlighted.

1. Anxiety problems based on job and financial insecurity

The economies of many states have been badly shaken during the pandemic, and this has been reflected in the mental health of hundreds of thousands of workers and employees, especially those in precarious situations, for whom a layoff or the closure of a business can be more costly.

Faced with these kinds of sources of anxiety, it is common to have trouble falling asleep, as the brain tends to keep "on the go". the brain tends to remain "in march" and with a high level of activation anticipating catastrophic situations and/or looking for urgent solutions..

2. Rumination by the fear to the contagions

The fact that it takes several days for COVID-19 to generate symptoms causes many people to obsess over the idea of having the virus, giving rise to rumination: the tendency to turn over and over again a type of worry-producing thought. This occurs especially in people who are apprehensive about illness and easily suggestible, as they interpret a wide variety of events as a sign or symptom of potentially severe pathology.

3. Depressive symptoms associated with loneliness due to confinement measures

Both confinement measures applied on the general population and quarantine situations can overwhelm people emotionally, especially the more extraverted ones. It is not easy to adapt to a routine characterized by a lack of face-to-face contact with others, and this can lead to problems in adapting to a routine characterized by a lack of face-to-face contact with others.and this can lead to problems getting a good night's sleep.

4. Destructuring of schedules

A change such as moving from working in the office to working from home can eliminate many time references that used to structure the day-to-day life of the teleworker.

For example, it can fall into the trap of leaving a good part of their tasks for the evening, which delays the time of work.This delays the time to go to bed (especially if he/she does not manage to finish on time and tries to compensate for this by waking up early). In addition, the disorganization in the schedules is also something that in itself harms the quality of the sleep, even if the person sleeps the sufficient hours.

5. Family or bereavement problems

Finally, the causes of sleep problems may be facilitated by the pandemic in an indirect way, because of the crises it may have generated in the familyarguments at home, sick family members, death of loved ones, etc.

Are you looking for psychotherapy services?

If you want to have professional psychological support, contact our team of psychotherapists.

At Psychology 360 we specialize in assisting patients and couples through online therapy by video call, at very competitive prices. We address problems such as anxiety disorders, insomnia, major depression, family crises, low self-esteem, and more.