According to a new study, published in the Journal of Occupational & Environmental Medicine, more than half of the nurses in the US experienced sleeping issues during the first six months of the pandemic, which resulted in anxiety and depression.

Investigators conducted a survey among 629 nurses and interviewed 34 nurses between June and August 2020. The nurses, working across 18 states, were asked about their experiences during the first six months of the pandemic in the US. The investigators noted high rates of depression (22%), anxiety (52%), and insomnia (55%) among the nurses. Difficulty sleeping was found to be a contributor to as well as an outcome of poor mental health. Sleeping for five hours or less prior to a shift increased the likelihood of depression, anxiety, and insomnia. The nurses also stated that anxiety and thinking about stressful working conditions, such as staff shortage, being redeployed to a COVID unit, lack of PPE, and several patient deaths, was associated with difficulty falling asleep and waking up at night… (HT – ANI, January 29, 2022)