In the first lockdown, half of UK adults said their sleep was disturbed more than usual, a study by King's College London found. A year on, doctors, sleep experts and specialist sleep disorder clinics say the problem still persists.
Dr Adam Simon, a private GP at BMI The Alexandra Hospital in Manchester, said he has seen a four-fold rise in people presenting with insomnia at his surgery. Before the pandemic, around five per cent of patients would come to him for help with insomnia but that figure is now around 20 per cent.
"I have seen a massive increase in sleep-related problems, both directly and indirectly related to Covid," he told The Telegraph.
"I'm seeing a lot of people with coronavirus having sleep problems, I'm seeing a lot of people having problems related to anxiety… and then post-Covid I am seeing a lot of insomnia issues, some of these are directly related to the secondary effects of Covid." Those effects included rhinitis, leading to congested sinuses, he said.
Experts say we have become more aware of our sleeping habits during lockdown, causing us to seek help
At the London Sleep Centre, patients presenting with insomnia have also increased significantly in the last six months, according to Heather Darwall-Smith, a psychotherapist at the Harley Street clinic.
The prolonged lockdown has had a "cumulative effect on people's mental health and subsequently their sleep", she told The Telegraph. She said those aged 18-26 were particularly affected, adding: "I think it's stress, I think it’s not knowing where life could take them."
But Joseph Gannon, the chief sleep physiologist at the Sleep Disorders Clinic, also on Harley Street, said people have become "more aware" of their sleeping habits during lockdown, which is causing them to seek help.
"People sort of become quite hyper-aware of their own habits", he said, adding that people who often work away from home are now also noticing the sleeping habits of their partner more.
Digital sleep trackers are also causing patients to over-analyse their sleeping patterns, Mr Gannon said, adding: "Often there's many of these tracking apps that track sleep efficiency and things like that and, unfortunately sometimes they give a cause for concern when there's no real need."
Colin Espie, a professor of sleep medicine in the Nuffield Department of Clinical Neurosciences at the University of Oxford, is undertaking research to assess the UK's sleep during the pandemic.
"People have recognised that sleep is very, very important and they've perhaps been able to choose a little bit more freely when they sleep," he told The Telegraph. "I do think people have struggled with their sleep. But when you struggle with something, it also helps you to recognise why it matters."
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