![]() Treatment options include cognitive behavioural therapy and the prescription of sleeping pills.ġ. Prolonged periods of poor sleep can take a toll on health and cause conditions such as diabetes, high blood pressure, cardiovascular diseases, anxiety and depression.ĭr Seng advises people who are experiencing insomnia continuously to seek professional help. He felt tired despite having slept for 10 hours and could not fall asleep even when he was tired.ĭoctors interviewed say getting sufficient sleep is essential for people to build a strong immune system. He enjoyed being awake at night as it was quieter and he would surf the Internet and play computer games until 5am, and often wake up only around 2 or 3pm. This was during the circuit breaker, when the teen did not have to attend school and began delaying his bedtime gradually. One of Dr Seng's patients, a 17-year-old student, slept a lot, but still woke up feeling exhausted the next day. ![]() It is a disorder in which a person's sleep pattern is delayed for two hours or more from a conventional sleep pattern, causing one to go to sleep and wake later. Those who experienced greater social isolation reported more symptoms of insomnia and shorter sleep duration."īesides insomnia, another sleep disorder observed during the pandemic is delayed sleep phase syndrome, says Dr Seng. She says: "Being in quarantine and social distancing can cut people off from family and friends, and trigger symptoms of depression and a variety of sleep problems. Principal clinical psychologist Annabelle Chow of Annabelle Psychology also notes a gradual increase in complaints from her patients about sleep problems since March last year. He has seen a 15 per cent rise in insomnia cases after the circuit breaker last year. "This can affect the rejuvenation of sleep which the body needs to repair itself." "These new-found sources of worry may cause higher levels of fear, anxiety and even depression, keeping individuals up at night," says Dr Seng, who notes a 15 to 20 per cent increase in insomnia cases at his clinic since May last year.Ĭhanges in daily routines, coupled with blurred boundaries between professional and personal lives while people work or study from home, have also led many to work and sleep at irregular hours.įor instance, Dr Seng has a patient who was unable to fall asleep at night because he was working till the wee hours and taking multiple naps during the day while working from home, perpetuating "a vicious circle of insomnia".ĭr Pang Yoke Teen, a senior ear, nose and throat consultant at Mount Elizabeth Medical Centre, says a person's circadian rhythm or body clock is disrupted when work and sleep schedules are thrown into disarray. Coronasomnia - the amalgamation of the words "coronavirus" and "insomnia" - has even been coined to describe how the pandemic has made it difficult for people to get a good night's sleep.ĭr Seng Kok Han, a consultant psychiatrist at Nobel Psychological Wellness Centre, says it is natural for people to worry about jobs, financial security and the health and safety of themselves and their loved ones during the pandemic.
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