Sufficient sleep is of great importance for the proper functioning of many processes in your body. If you don’t get enough sleep, you have a greater chance of contracting infections, and it is more difficult for your body to fight these infections. A bad night’s sleep makes you more irritable and more prone to physical discomfort such as shortness of breath. It is also more difficult to put things into perspective that can make you feel anxious or depressed. Reasons enough to give patients with a covid-19 infection the best possible night’s sleep.
Now a hospital is often not the place where patients can sleep undisturbed. They lie in a strange bed, surrounded by noises from fellow patients, medical personnel and equipment, and sometimes receive nighttime checkups. Nevertheless, researchers from Amsterdam UMC had the idea that sleeping problems occur more often in patients with Covid-19 than in other patients. This prompted the setting up of a study led by Professor of Acute Internal Medicine Prabath Nanayakkara. For this, patients with and without corona in the Pulmonary Diseases department were asked about their nighttime sleep.
Sleepless nights
The results of the study show that both patients with and without Covid-19 in hospital sleep much less than the 7 to 9 hours recommended for healthy adults. On average, both groups of patients sleep only 5 to 5.5 hours per night. It was also noticed that 1 in 5 patients with Covid-19 is awake all night. That is five times more often than in the other patients in the Lung Department. So it seems that the chance of a bad night’s sleep is greater if you have corona.
The main reasons that covid-19 patients gave for their poor sleep were shortness of breath, worries about the disease, fear and noises in the ward. The virus itself and the response of the body to the virus may also play a role. However, more research is needed to gain more clarity on this.
– .
