3 Unique Ways COVID Triggers Sleep Issues & How To Manage Them

Millions of us have long suffered from sleeplessness, and COVID has only made matters worse. An uncontrolled pandemic, civil unrest, and political tension don't exactly sound like a lullaby, and research confirms that people around the world, from Europe1 to China2 to Morocco3, have experienced worse sleep quality since lockdowns began.

The global restlessness is caused at least in part by anxiety, sadness, and anger from the day carrying over into the evening. But Michael J. Breus, Ph.D., a clinical psychologist who specializes in sleep and sleep disorders, has a few other theories on why we aren't sleeping like we used to. His insomnia triggers are much easier to solve for than stress, which at this point is pretty inevitable.

He'll test levels of vitamin D, ferritin (which signals potential iron deficiencies), melatonin, and magnesium.* Magnesium, in particular, is a mineral that the vast majority of people are deficient in, in part because industrial agriculture strips a lot of our food of the essential nutrient.

In an age when nutrient-dense food can be hard to come by, magnesium supplements are now popular and something that Breus himself takes daily.* Magnesium helps regulate many body functions—including our relaxation response—so if it's low, levels will need to be brought back up to normal before you can really gauge sleep quality.*

These days, there are fewer places to be and fewer opportunities to get moving. Smartwatch owners have probably seen this reflected in daily step count: Worldwide, there's been a sharp decline in physical activity since the pandemic began.

Breus says this is bad news for sleep: "Sleep is recovery. If you haven't done anything you need to recover from, you're not going to sleep particularly well," he tells mbg.

Besides causing jitters and hangovers, Breus says these two increasingly popular vices can mess with sleep quality. Alcohol in particular "obliterates" sleep stages 3 and 4, he explains, which is where most of our dreaming happens. Breus has an interesting perspective on why skipping these stages can be harmful, beyond just making us more tired in the mornings.

He subscribes to the theory that the dream world is where we go to safely process our waking lives. "It's where people who are upset about something can go to work through those emotions," he says.

From this perspective, "quarandreaming" is important because it helps us cope with this emotionally loaded time. "It's kind of like releasing the pressure valve a little in the middle of the night and allowing you to process some of it," Breus adds. "If you can't process the emotions you're having, they become fears, they become phobias, they become irregular behaviors and anxieties."