Lockdown has wreaked havoc with our sleep, study finds

If lockdown has wreaked havoc with your sleeping pattern, you are not alone.

A new study from King’s College London and Ipsos MORI of 2,254 respondents conducted in May found that half of British adults (50 per cent) say their sleep has been more disturbed than usual in lockdown and almost two in five (38 per cent) are having more vivid dreams than they would usually — read our analysis of what your wacky lockdown dreams might mean here.

It's both quantity and quality we're lacking in, with some 39 per cent of respondents saying they were sleeping fewer hours a night on average, while others reported sleeping for longer but feeling less rested.

The study authors said that overall six in 10 people in the UK have had worse sleep since lockdown was announced on March 23.

The results of the study also suggested that younger people are much more likely to report changes to their usual sleeping patterns. Almost half (46 per cent) of 16-to-24-year-olds said they are sleeping fewer hours than they did before lockdown, compared to around a third of those aged 35 and over.

Men are sleeping marginally better than women, with 46 per cent saying their sleep was more disturbed than usual, compared to 52 per cent of women.

Meanwhile, people whose finances have been affected by the virus are suffering worse sleep, with 62 per cent of these people saying their sleep is more disturbed than usual.

Stress was a factor too, with those those who find coronavirus stressful much more likely to have experienced negative sleep impacts than those who do not, the researchers point out.

Professor Bobby Duffy, director of the Policy Institute at King’s College London, said: "Nearly two-thirds of the UK public report some negative impact on their sleep from the Covid-19 crisis, clearly showing just how unsettling the pandemic and lockdown measures have been for a very large proportion us.

"And this is clearly tied to both how stressful we’ve found the virus itself, and how much we fear the impact of the lockdown on our employment and finances.

"Young people in particular have experienced the most impact on their sleep, for good and bad – they are more likely than older people to say they’ve experienced negative impacts on their sleep, but also more likely to say they’ve slept better."

New research from the University College London (UCL), where experts are tracking more than 90,000 people on how the pandemic is affecting their wellbeing and mental health, has highlighted how levels of anxiety and depression have fallen as lockdown has eased.

Lead author, Dr Daisy Fancourt from UCL’s Institute of Epidemiology and Health Care, said: "It is encouraging that levels of anxiety and depression have both fallen as lockdown has eased. However, the levels being reported by participants are still worse than usual reported averages."

If you are struggling with getting a good night's rest, insomnia specialist Kathryn Pinkham, founder of The Insomnia Clinic, has shared some of her top sleep tips with us here.

Additional reporting by PA

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