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How have you been sleeping? And what about your patients? The COVID-19 pandemic affected people's sleep in various ways, leading to several reports of negative changes as well as some positive experiences. These effects are associated with physiological aspects (ie, those resulting from the direct action of the viral infection) and with the social isolation imposed by the health crisis and subsequent changes in routine. But what are the physiological mechanisms of these changes, and how do we mitigate them? These and other questions were discussed at the World Sleep Congress 2023 in Rio de Janeiro.
In 2020 and 2021, the International COVID‑19 Sleep Study (ICOSS) assessed the impact of the COVID‑19 pandemic on sleep, circadian rhythm, and various sleep disorders. Fourteen countries in Europe, Asia, North America, and South America participated in the international study, including more than 22,000 participants in total.
According to Bjørn Bjorvatn, MD, PhD, professor of global public health and primary care at the University of Bergen in Norway, the ICOSS results showed that of the countries evaluated, Canada had the highest increase in sleep disordercases during the pandemic (33.1%). Brazil was second with 18.3%, followed by the United States (14.3%), Italy (10.9%), Norway (8.4%), and China (7.3%).
