Persistent Sleep Disturbance Following Pandemic Lockdowns: Longitudinal Findings From the UK COVID ‐19 Symptom Study Biobank, 2026, Toson et al.

[Chandelier]

Persistent Sleep Disturbance Following Pandemic Lockdowns: Longitudinal Findings From the UK COVID ‐19 Symptom Study Biobank

Spoiler: Authors

Toson, Barbara; Cheetham, Nathan J.; Brown, Julia R. B.; Sudre, Carole H.; Proctor, Simon; Bowyer, Vicky; Harvey, Nicholas R.; Joseph, Desaline; Birdseye, Adam; Steves, Claire J.; Mukherjee, Sutapa; Duncan, Emma L.

ABSTRACT​

Sleep disturbance and fatigue were highly prevalent during the COVID-19 pandemic, in both infected and non-infected individuals, though mostly assessed cross-sectionally.
To assess these symptoms after lockdown cessation, we conducted a prospective longitudinal study in a large UK cohort.
Validated questionnaires assessing sleep disturbances, fatigue, depression, and anxiety were administered to COVID Symptom Study Biobank participants at two time periods—Autumn 2021 and Spring 2022 equinoxes—corresponding to lockdown and lifting of restrictions, respectively.
After adjusting for differential participation using inverse probability weighting, data from 2390 participants were analysed.
Generalised linear models examined SARS-CoV-2 infection, post-COVID-19 syndrome [PCS], and longitudinal changes of sleep disturbances and fatigue, adjusting for potential confounders.
Despite lifting of lockdown, high levels of sleep disturbance and fatigue persisted, with no significant improvement over time, independently of baseline or new SARS-CoV-2 infection or PCS.
De novo SARS-CoV-2 marginally worsened STOP-Bang scores although below clinical significance.
There was a trend for interaction between baseline SARS-CoV-2 status and Chalder Fatigue scores on follow-up fatigue (B = 0.19, 95% CI = −0.01 to 0.39, p = 0.057).
Receipt of booster vaccination lowered Epworth Sleepiness Scale scores (B = −0.53, 95% CI = −0.96 to −0.10, p = 0.016) but doubled likelihood of restless legs syndrome symptoms (OR = 2.45, 95% CI = 1.38 to 4.37, p = 0.002).
Overall, the high rates of sleep disturbances and fatigue observed during lockdown persisted after restrictions were lifted, independent of SARS-CoV-2 infection.
Sleep disruption reported during lockdown may endure unless actively addressed.
Given the high prevalence of both sleep disturbance and fatigue, routine assessment of sleep is recommended for individuals presenting with persistent post-pandemic fatigue, including PCS.

Web | DOI | PDF | Journal of Sleep Research | Open Access

 

[Chandelier]

Poor sleep and fatigue remained widespread after the COVID-19 pandemic | King's College London

Poor sleep, fatigue and anxiety remained common after COVID-19 restrictions ended, according to new research led by King's College London and Flinders University.

www.kcl.ac.uk

King's College London​

27 July 2026

Poor sleep and fatigue remained widespread after the COVID-19 pandemic​

Poor sleep, fatigue and anxiety remained common after COVID-19 restrictions ended, according to new research led by King's College London and Flinders University.

“We knew from pre-pandemic clinical experience that once sleep disturbance is present, it is unlikely to improve without intervention.

“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."

We recommend routine assessment of sleep for people presenting with persistent post-pandemic fatigue, including those with persistent symptoms associated with Post-COVID Syndrome.

Sutapa Mukherjee, Professor in Respiratory and Sleep Medicine at Flinders University and co-senior author.

The researchers suggest that addressing sleep disturbances could be an important part of supporting recovery for people with Post-COVID-19 Syndrome, where fatigue remains a commonly reported symptom.
Effective approaches to improving sleep may help reduce symptoms and improve quality of life.

 

[rvallee]

The reference for claiming that "pandemic-related sleep disturbance" was prevalent during COVID is “Sleep Problems During the COVID-19 Pandemic by Population: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.” Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine 17, no. 2: 299–313, which is very imprecise, huge error margin, but was almost exclusively related to infections. So this "pandemic-related" in the sense of being caused by infections, even though later in the conclusion they say otherwise, which I don't understand. It has nothing to do with "lockdowns" or general vibes during the intense phases of the pandemic, which is was it explicitly alluded here.

So yet again, a global pandemic caused a huge number of problems, but are instead retroactively attributed to general vibes and anxiety instead. This Glonzo approach is absolutely not the right way to solve problems. It explicitly ignores the fact that a lot of people had an easy time during the pandemic. Hell, even by the study they cite, health care workers, who should be the most affected by this, were not:

Health care workers and the general population had comparative rates of sleep problems, with rates of 36.0% (95% confidence interval, 21.1–54.2%) and 32.3% (95% confidence interval, 25.3–40.2%), respectively.

Bad research cumulatively becomes worse than no research at all. The technical debt here is gigantic, which is truly absurd because technical debt normally accumulates when checkpoints are reached, when maintenance becomes difficult because it would impede on its availability. There is no such thing here, it's just technical debt without a purpose.

The idea that there are "approaches to improving sleep" is just nonsense. What do they even expect can be done here?