«The sleep of the Aragonese has worsened since the pandemic began»

Elia Usieto, a psychologist at the MAZ Sleep Unit in Zaragoza, comments that the brain likes to have the illusion that it knows what is going to happen to us, that this makes it calm, and that getting used to uncertainty is not within human nature. "There are studies that link this intolerance of uncertainty with greater sleeping problems: such as conciliation insomnia, maintenance insomnia, early awakening...", she points out.

Hence, it is not surprising that after a year of coronavirus, in which our lives have changed so much, there has been an increase in the prevalence of cases of insomnia, as this expert points out coinciding with World Sleep Day, which It is celebrated this Friday. "The sleep of the Aragonese has worsened since the pandemic began. There are statistics that showed peaks of up to 60% of the population sleeping poorly (during the first state of alarm in 2020). That is outrageous; before the pandemic It is estimated that 30% had some difficulty sleeping and that 10% had diagnosable insomnia. Other statistics indicate that up to 80% of health workers had sleep disorders in the three months of confinement due to stress and shiftiness. time, the numbers of anxiety and depression have risen," he explains based on clinical practice and research on the subject.

Usieto points out that many "peculiar cases" of sleep problems in confined people come to the MAZ Sleep Unit - where he has been working for 15 years. "The fear of the virus and of infecting the people they live with is combined with being locked up and the drastic modification of family life and habits. They begin to go to bed and get up later and later, they tend to take naps and go down in bed. physical activity. A cocktail that is not very conducive to quality sleep," he says.

They are also beginning to see people who have had the virus who have suffered insomnia as a consequence. "There are already documented cases of people admitted for Covid with neurological symptoms who have developed sleep disorders, both due to excessive drowsiness and insomnia. And we are beginning to see it even in people who have remained at home," he says.

Perceived stress

This psychologist from Zaragoza also maintains that we now perceive our environment as something more stressful. "And we know that stress is one of the most important factors in the genesis of insomnia. The more changes that occur around you, the more it will increase. Especially when these changes make your environment or the situation in which you lived not as satisfying as before," he recalls.

On the other hand, Usieto highlights that it has been discovered that people who sleep poorly have less capacity to perceive what is pleasant and brings happiness. She highlights that we should sleep more than 7 and a half hours. "The ideal would be for each person to sleep what they need because each person has a sleep pattern," she says, while highlighting that there should be greater monitoring of people who are confined. "Only the family doctor follows them in case they are positive, but they do not follow up on how their mental health is," she adds.