Emma Duncan said a 2390-person study found fatigue and poor sleep persisted after lockdowns were lifted in 2022. The study, published in Journal of Sleep Research, followed the same people after earlier pandemic assessments and showed the problem did not end when restrictions did.
Journal of Sleep Research
Experts from King's College London and Flinders University in Australia carried out one of the first large-scale longitudinal studies of residual sleep and related mental health problems after the pandemic. Questionnaire responses from 2390 people covered sleep, fatigue, depression and anxiety, then the same group was reassessed in 2022 after lockdowns were lifted.
Adjusted for other factors, high levels of poor sleep and fatigue persisted. The persistence appeared regardless of whether respondents had contracted COVID-19.
Emma Duncan
Emma Duncan, co-senior author and Professor of Clinical Endocrinology at King's College London, said: "Our data fit with results from around the world – that the experience of the pandemic itself was associated with sleep disturbance globally."
The study builds on earlier findings from the 2021 UK lockdown, when researchers found extremely high levels of poor sleep and fatigue across the whole community. This follow-up adds a later check point: even after lockdown rules ended, the same symptoms were still present in the same people.
Sutapa Mukherjee
Sutapa Mukherjee, co-senior author and Professor in Respiratory and Sleep Medicine at the Flinders Health and Medical Research Institute Sleep Health research group, said: "We knew from pre-pandemic clinical experience that once sleep disturbance is present, it is unlikely to improve without intervention." She added: "Given the high prevalence of both sleep disturbance and fatigue in some people after the COVID shutdowns, addressing sleep disturbance may be part of a patient's long-term recovery and wellbeing."
She also recommended routine assessment of sleep for people presenting with persistent post-pandemic fatigue, including those with the persistent symptoms associated with PCS (Long COVID).
Barbara Toson
Barbara Toson, a research fellow at the Flinders Health and Medical Research Institute Sleep Health research group, said: "Many people assume sleep returns to normal once major life disruptions end. However, our study found that sleep disturbance and fatigue often persisted after lockdown restrictions were lifted."
For people still dealing with post-pandemic fatigue, the practical next step in the study is not another date on a calendar. It is sleep assessment and intervention, because the finding points to a problem that can outlast the disruption that triggered it.
