Post-COVID Insomnia Impairs Physical Role Functioning in Medical Students, Suggests Study
A recent 18-month prospective study published in the Indian Journal of Sleep Medicine in March 2026 reveals that new-onset insomnia following a COVID-19 infection drastically diminishes the quality of life for undergraduate medical students, with nearly 26% of affected individuals suffering from moderate to severe sleep disturbances that significantly impair physical role functioning and vitality.
While the immediate clinical impact of the pandemic is well-documented, emerging research suggests long-term sequelae like sleep disturbance are significantly under-recognized. Previous studies by researchers such as Ahmed et al. and Xu et al. highlighted high insomnia rates in general survivors, yet a critical clinical gap remained regarding high-stress populations like future healthcare providers; consequently, Yash Bhuva and colleagues from the Department of Psychiatry at SMIMER, Surat, Gujarat, aimed to explain the prevalence and quality of life (QoL) impact of this condition in undergraduate (UG) medical students.
Therefore, the 18-month prospective study in Gujarat evaluated new-onset insomnia in 72 medical students presenting symptoms at least four weeks post-COVID-19. Utilizing the Insomnia Severity Index (ISI) and SF-36 Health Survey, investigators analyzed sleep severity and quality of life (QoL) across eight health domains. To isolate the infection's specific impact, the study excluded all participants with pre-existing psychiatric or chronic medical conditions.
Key Clinical Findings of the Study Include:
Significant Prevalence: The study found that 11.3% of the infected medical student population reported new-onset insomnia.
Severity Distribution: The study noted that while 73.6% had subthreshold symptoms, 25% faced moderate clinical insomnia, and 1.4% suffered from severe clinical insomnia.
Physical Decline: It reported that participants with severe insomnia experienced a total loss of physical role functioning, scoring 0.0 compared to 59.0 in subthreshold cases.
Vitality Depletion: It highlighted that energy levels were profoundly impacted, with severe cases scoring a mere 5.0 in the energy/fatigue domain.
Social Disruption: It identified that increased insomnia severity was significantly tied to poorer social functioning and higher pain perception (p < 0.05).
The results suggest that post-COVID-19 new -onset insomnia is highly prevalent and notably impacts various QoL domains. Specifically, the data indicates that 26.4% of the students with post-infection sleep issues require clinical attention for moderate to severe insomnia to prevent further deterioration of their general health.
The findings underscore a pressing need for medical institutions to implement targeted interventions to mitigate the effects of insomnia on student well-being and academic performance in the post-pandemic era.
The study was limited by its cross-sectional design and convenience sampling, which prevents establishing a definitive temporal cause-and-effect relationship between the viral infection and sleep loss. Future longitudinal research is necessary to explore the multifaceted factors of insomnia and validate these findings in larger cohorts of severe cases.
Reference
Bhuva Y, Chaudhari FA, Doshi NH, et al. Post-COVID-19 New Onset Insomnia and its Impact on Quality of Life among UG Medical Students. Indian J Sleep Med 2026;21(1):28–33
