That can be very effective for a lot of people You start to remove the thoughts that cause the anxiety and cause the rumination. It's a classic vicious circle where you can't get to sleep you stare at the ceiling, worried about not being able to sleep because you're worried about the consequences of not being able to sleep," says Prof Andrew Coogan, head of the Department of Psychology at NUI Maynooth and a professor of behavioural neuroscience. "Under normal circumstances we know that worry and anxiety about sleep is the main predictor of not being able to sleep as well as we would like. The worry about the fact that we’re not sleeping becomes one of the things keeping us awake. We start anticipating the bad night’s sleep we fear we’re going to have. A few days or weeks into a cycle of bad sleep, the second stage kicks in: the worry about whether or not we’ll be able to sleep that night begins to creep into our waking hours. The constant, low-level state of exhaustion means we’re less able to regulate our emotions or to deal with our anxieties. Because we’re not sleeping enough, we worry. We worry because we’re not sleeping enough. Those of us who frequently suffer from poor sleep are all too familiar with the pattern. The physiology of sleep is particularly cruel. This leads to a cascade of reactions in our body, releasing stress hormones like cortisol, which elevates our response to the threat.”Ī sign notifies people of the 2m social distancing measures as people exercise in Phoenix Park.
In the current situation it is the status quo and our health that is threatened. “Stress is a basic preservation instinct. On top of this, we don’t have access to our usual outlets: exercise classes, going to the gym, having a night out with friends. We’re worried about our health, and the health of loved ones. Some of us have job-related insecurities.” We’re not commuting, so we have a little bit of extra time on our hands. We’re in a heightened, stressful state of mind.
“Everything about this time is disruptive. Now I pound the footpaths alone, coronavirus podcasts for company. A month ago I walked this route shoulder-to-shoulder with friends. Some look at me and smile back, but mostly they stride past, heads down. As I walk, I make a wide berth around walkers or they step into the road to avoid me. In the evening I take a 40-minute walk alone, a reward for getting through the day. If you look away for 15 minutes, you’ll have missed another dire headline.ĭuring the days, I work at a desk set into the space that used to be occupied by a wardrobe in the spare bedroom, interrupted by regular breaks to care for my children or check the news. I pick up my phone to check if I have missed any late breaking news updates. The impact of social isolation on my children’s mental health. The impact the Covid-19 pandemic will have on my parents. I’m scanning the horizon of my consciousness for threats, isolating one worry, settling on it, and then moving on to another. But my mind, cruelly, is alert and vigilant.