The survey received more than 32,000 responses from citizens across 322 districts of India. 61 per cent respondents were men while 39 per cent were women. (Express File/Representative Image)Disruptions in sleep are coming out to be one of the longterm health issues being reported by people who have been infected by the novel coronavirus.
New studies have now emerged that show that even months or even a year after recovery from Covid, people might continue to face difficulty in getting a sound sleep irrespective of the severity of the infection.
Taking cognisance of the issue, LocalCircles conducted a survey to understand the number of hours of uninterrupted sleep citizens generally get at night. It then sought to know if there had been any change in their sleep pattern since they were infected. The survey received more than 32,000 responses from citizens across 322 districts of India. 61 per cent respondents were men while 39 per cent were women.
The first question in the survey asked households, “How many hours of uninterrupted sleep do you generally get at night?”. In response, only 6 per cent said “8-10 hours”, 38 per cent said “6-8 hours”, 27 per cent said “4-6 hours” and 23 per cent said “up to 4 hours”. The remaining 6 per cent couldn’t specify a time as such. On an aggregate basis, 1 in 2 Indians is getting less than 6 hours of uninterrupted sleep each night, and 1 in 4 is sleeping less than 4 hours. This question received 20,549 responses.
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The survey also asked citizens, “Has there been any change in your sleep pattern in the last few years with Covid being prevalent and in response, the majority, 52% citizens surveyed, admitted to the change in sleep pattern. This question received 11,541 responses,” Sachin Taparia, founder of Local circles said.
Dr Seemab Shaikh, the founder of the National President of the Indian Association of Surgeons for Sleep Apnea and a noted ENT surgeon told The Indian Express that there was a need to take a detailed history of the patient to rule out Covid-related phobias and anxiety before evaluating for sleep apnea. “Sleep disturbance could be associated with some kind of anxiety and while there has been a relative rise in the number of such cases, detailed evaluation is required for sleep apnea,” she added.
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