Women are suffering more than men with poorer sleep and higher levels of anxiety and depression during months of isolation due to Covid-19, says a new study published in Frontiers in Global Women's Health.
The study by University of Calgary researchers with the Hotchkiss Brain Institute sought to highlight the sex and gender differences during the coronavirus stay-home lifestyle, especially on how isolation impacts on women and men psychologically shaping their behavioural reactions to the pandemic.
Advocating targeted psychological intervention, the study examined data from 573 participants, 112 men and 459 women with a mean age of 25.9 years in Canada. The online survey was conducted between March 23 and June 7 of this year when schools and many businesses were closed, forcing people stay at home due to a general lock down in the country due to Covid-19's rapid spread.
The researchers found that more than 66% of the volunteer participants reported poor quality of sleep, more than 39% reported increased symptoms of insomnia, besides an overall increase in anxiety and distress. Among women, the study found sleep, depression and anxiety symptoms were more prominent.
"Generally, the study found women reporting more anxiety and depression," said lead researcher Veronica Guadagni from Cumming School of Medicine (CSM), University of Calgary, Canada. "Their symptoms worsened over time and with greater length of the isolation period. There was a progressive increase in anxiety, depression, poor sleep quality and trauma for males and females. But it was greater for females over time."
Findings, not surprising
The study also found that women were more empathetic and had an understanding of others' emotions and often take care of them. However, the greater empathy was associated with greater anxiety, depression and trauma, noted the authors of the study. The researchers say women have greater concern and anxiety in terms of caregiving, which not prominent or visible among men.
"I was not surprised by the findings; women are the ones who carry the additional load," says Dr. Giuseppe Iaria, the senior investigator of the study. "Taking care of family and critical situations has always been a huge load on women and females."
Higher empathy menas they are more likely to follow public health guidelines, such as washing hands, social distancing, and wearing a mask. "If we see that higher empathy is connected to prosocial behaviour, we could expect that the people who actually care more for others would be more respectful of the rules. Future studies should test this specific hypothesis," says Guadagni.
However, the researchers could not glean any pre-pandemic sleep or anxiety issues from the participants' data since the Covid-19 was unexpected and never anticiated.
"We don't know what the interplay between sleep, mental health and empathy was before the isolation for these participants" says Iaria, though he is optimistic that the study will "trigger some insights" into the public awareness that some suffer more than others.
