New Sleep Survey Finds More People Suffering From Insomnia In S’pore After COVID-19

If I were to list all the things that the coronavirus has taken away from us, I’d never get to write another article.

Besides taking things way, COVID-19 has also brought a lot more stress and anxiety into our lives, causing us to fret over the most trivial of every day worries.

But as long as you don’t contract COVID-19, it’s not something to lose sleep over, right?

Well, not quite.

New Sleep Survey Finds More People Suffering From Insomnia In S’pore After COVID-19

More residents in Singapore are finding it difficult to get some shut-eye at night after the COVID-19 pandemic struck, a global sleep study has found.

The study was conducted from 17 Nov to 7 Dec last year by health technology company Philips. Its findings were released on Wednesday (17 March).

It polled 13,000 adults across 13 places including the United States, Australia, Britain, and China.

1,000 respondents from Singapore were also surveyed, of whom 27% said they were suffering from insomnia.

This was a slight rise from 25% in the same survey conducted in 2019.

Of those who couldn’t sleep, 51% said it was due to anxieties over work, finances, and COVID-19 related news.

This is understandable, given how stressful the pandemic has been for everyone.

In fact, there’s even been a name given to this phenomenon – Coronasomnia.

Causes of ‘Coronasomnia’

It isn’t just the stress of losing one’s job or contracting the coronavirus that kept people up at night.

As principal clinical psychologist Annabelle Chow explained to AsiaOne, prolonged periods of isolation and being cut-off from family and friends can trigger symptoms of depression.

This, in turn, can lead to sleep problems.

Besides insomnia, the pandemic might also have caused many to suffer from delayed sleep phase syndrome, where sleep is delayed by two hours or more beyond what is considered an acceptable or conventional bedtime.

This is because our usual work or school routines were messed up by the shift to telecommuting.

So, how do we get our sleep back?

Tips For Better Sleep

Firstly, it’s very important to keep a regular sleep schedule. This means going to bed at the same time every night, and, most importantly, waking up at the same time every day.

We might enjoy watching shows on Netflix till 2 am, but that’s not exactly great for our sleep.

Reducing our screen time before bed, getting sunlight in the day, and avoiding working in your bedroom will also help you fall into sweet slumber at night.

Besides these, here are some other tips for better sleep:

• avoid caffeine, alcohol, and nicotine
• establish a calming pre-sleep routine
• go to sleep only when you’re truly tired
• don’t eat too much just before bedtime

If nothing works, however, you should seek professional help. Treatment usually comes in the form of cognitive behavioural therapy or sleeping pills.

Featured Image: ae ssp / Shutterstock.com