Sleep Quality During Coronavirus-2019 Pandemic

Dear Editor,
Since December 2019 and the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in Wuhan, China, it has rapidly spread and attracted the World Health Organization’s attention and concern. COVID-19 is a new case of coronavirus that is closely related to severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), with a high transmission rate.1 The disease is usually accompanied by simple respiratory symptoms such as fever and dry cough, fatigue, and gastrointestinal symptoms. COVID-19 has specific characteristics that has led to increased anxiety in the society. Person-to-person transmission, high prevalence rates, treatment failure, rumors and misinformation about the origins and causes of the disease, emotional and exaggerated images and news, and the possibility of recurrence of the disease are among the factors causing significant anxiety compared with past pandemics.2 With the outbreak of COVID-19 and subsequent changes such as unemployment in high-risk jobs, providing an emergency level of public health, and home quarantine, social and occupational relations and people lifestyles were strongly influenced. The number of deaths increased and strict measures were taken to control the disease’s spread in different world areas. One of the measures taken to control COVID-19 was home quarantine, which in itself can have a variety of consequences, including increased anxiety, stress and reduced sleep quality for individuals.3 Patients with or suspected of COVID-19 often experience fear and anxiety about the consequences of the deadly virus. People in the quarantine may also experience fatigue, loneliness, depression, and anger. Furthermore, some common symptoms of this disease, such as fever, body aches, loss of taste and smell, hypoxia, cough and dry throat, reduce sleep quality.4
The relationship between sleep quality and physical and mental health is evident to all. Sleep quality is a relatively complex and subjective concept that cannot be measured in the laboratory, and factors affecting each person’s quality of sleep can be different. In general, sleep duration, delay in falling asleep, sleep efficiency, sleep disorders, sleeping pills, and impaired daily functioning are significant factors that play a role in sleep quality.5 COVID-19 is a global pandemic that can affect the physical and mental health of individuals. Previous studies evaluating pandemic and infectious diseases such as SARS and Ebola virus have shown that pandemic diseases lead to disorders and reduced sleep quality in individuals.6 Studies in previous pandemic conditions have shown that the mental health of non-infected individuals was more affected than that of infected individuals so that those who were afraid of developing the disease reported more psychological problems.