‘I could hear the sound of the plastic … I just knew that was another body’: Covid-19 survivor

The trauma of hearing bodies being wrapped in plastic and then wheeled past her hospital bed night after night while she recovered from Covid-19 in January has left Durban estate agent Wendy Conner petrified of sleep seven months later.

Her husband, Karl, often has to rock her to sleep like a baby to enable her to rest.

Conner, 53, from the Durban suburb of Newlands, has developed a circulation problem and suffers with palpitations, which she has put down to her inability to sleep — sometimes for up to four days. She is not alone in her sleep woes.

Sleep specialists are finding that more South Africans are getting very little shut-eye and having apocalyptic nightmares due to the pandemic, which has spawned another potential health crisis they have dubbed “coronasomnia” — the inability to fall asleep or get a good night’s sleep.

“I could hear the sound of the plastic as they were wrapping the corpses. The rickety sound of an old bed going past, I just knew that was another body. When I got home I could not sleep. Every time I put my head down, at a certain time of the night I woke up having nightmares and sweats.

“That trauma has lived with me. From 11pm to 4am there’s no sleep. My husband rocks me off to sleep like a small child. I’ve never had nightmares or been afraid to sleep. This insomnia is constant and it’s because of the pandemic and me having had Covid. I have to take a light sedative if I have not slept for three to four days.”

Dr Dale Rae, director of Sleep Science, a sleep evaluation entity run by scientists at the University of Cape Town, has found that more people have reported bizarre dreams and heightened insomnia since Covid hit South African shores.

“I’ve seen an increase in insomnia, and that seems to be associated with symptoms of depression and anxiety,” said Rae.

“When people’s dreams feel a bit chaotic and crazy, it’s just them processing. This is a relatively frightening time for a lot of people and it sometimes translates to our dreams and sleep patterns.”

Rae said she had often encountered people using the word “apocalyptic” when it came to their dreams.

“These are obviously related to anxiety bordering on panic because of the unknown,” she said.

She said studies published around the world reflected similar data when it came to sleep and the pandemic.

“Everybody is reporting the same information everywhere — increased anxiety, depression, more symptoms of insomnia and poor-quality sleep. “Sleep is involved in your immunity. While we sleep our body makes all the antibodies to defend us against the viruses or pathogens that we were exposed to during the daytime. As soon as a person has lower-quality sleep then we may not spend enough time in deep sleep, which is really important for our immunity and physical repair and recovery.”

Rae said accumulated poor sleep quality had the potential to lead to weight gain, insulin resistance, hypertension and heart disease.

“With people who have had the virus seriously, especially those who have had long Covid, that’s linked with much more insomnia,” she said.

Joni Peddie, a behaviour strategist and sleep coach who holds the South African franchise for World Sleep Day, said many of her clients — mostly executives — are struggling with coronasomnia because “they are worrying about the uncertainty of what is coming next”.

“Coronasomnia is fuelled by the fact that many aspects and dimensions of our lives have changed drastically since the onslaught of the pandemic.

“Working longer hours and from home, feeling isolated, being anxious about job and financial security, eating unhealthy and consuming a bit too much alcohol are robbing people of quality sleep during this time.

“Biologically what is happening with people is when they have high amounts of the stress hormone, cortisol, in their system the body can’t produce enough melatonin — often referred to as the sleep hormone — to reach a level of deep sleep.”

Umhlanga businessman Costa Dranias said his insomnia had been heightened by the pandemic.

“I think it is a combination of stress and anxiety. I have my own businesses so that’s enough to keep me awake at night. You have a sense of morality with staff to do the right thing — you don’t want to lay them off. You have added stress and responsibilities of looking after staff and family members during this difficult time.”

Dranias has turned to cannabis oil to help him sleep.

Geraldine Booysen, 34, of Pretoria, said financial worries and the fear of the unknown keep her up at night.

“It’s a lot of personal things, family-wise, finances, work sustainability and the lack of a routine — all are contributing to my insomnia.”