The true effects of Long Covid are beginning to come to light en masse as more and more studies unveil their results after monitoring thousands of people who have had the virus at different stages of the pandemic.
New strains and waves are still developing across the globe, and even though the vaccine has done its job in protecting the most vulnerable, the consequences of the illness that shut down the world are starting to be seen.
According to several studies, the latest symptoms being reported in patients who had Covid-19 over the past three years and have since been diagnosed with long with long-Covid are issues with sleeping.
READ MORE: Lesser known signs you may be suffering with Long Covid as Ireland sees surge of virus after-effects
This is being reported in patients who had coronavirus infections in months past. Various research teams from around the world have looked into how people who had Covid or who suffer from long Covid sleep - finding that many reported "sleep disturbances”.
The term refers to problems with drifting off to sleep in the first place and with staying asleep throughout the night.
The most well-known of these issues is insomnia - which means people take a long time to fall asleep, will awaken multiple times during the night, or will wake up very early in the morning.
In another study, published in the journal eClinicalMedicine, researchers surveyed 3,762 people from 56 countries who had suffered from long Covid between June and November 2020.
Of these people, nearly 80% reported sleep disturbances - most frequently insomnia.
Separately, in an observational study carried out in 2022, US researchers monitored 710 participants by equipping them with wearable health devices.
These devices recorded their respiratory and heart rates, oxygen saturation and heart variability, as well as other key factors.
Using these variables, they found that the 122 long-Covid patients were getting less sleep compared to the 588 control group participants who had not had Covid-19, and that their sleep quality was lower too.
Other symptoms of Long-Covid that have been found through various studies are:
- shortness of breath
- chest pain or tightness
- problems with memory and thinking (‘brain fog’)
- problems sleeping (insomnia)
- heart palpitations
- dizziness
- pins and needles or numbness
- joint pain or muscle pain
- depression and anxiety
- tinnitus, earaches
- feeling sick, diarrhoea, stomach aches, loss of appetite, weight loss
- a high temperature, cough, headaches, sore throat
- changes to sense of smell or taste
- rashes
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