Ukrainians sleep on average 40 minutes less due to chronic war-related stress

Ukrainians have been sleeping on average 40 minutes less due to chronic stress since the start of the full-scale invasion. They are experiencing sleep and attention disorders and panic attacks.

Source: Bohdan Bozhuk, Director General of the State Institution Kundiiev Institute of Occupational Health of the National Academy of Medical Sciences of Ukraine, at a Ukrinform press conference

Details: According to Bozhuk, air-raid warnings, blackouts, chronic stress, deaths and infrastructure destruction are having a cumulative impact on the nation's health every day. The effects are most strongly felt among the working population.

Quote from Bozhuk: "A year and a half into the full-scale invasion, many people were already reporting sleep problems and more frequent panic attacks.

Nighttime air raids are another major factor, reducing sleep by an average of 40 minutes per night."

More details: Bozhuk noted that among medical workers, just six months after the start of the full-scale invasion, 14% met the criteria for post-traumatic stress disorder, and a further 9% for depression.

In some groups, somatoform disorders have increased fourfold – a condition characterised by real physical symptoms such as pain, shortness of breath or dizziness, but without any identifiable organic cause on medical examination. Women bear a higher psychological burden, and symptoms are recorded significantly more often.

Studies also confirm that chronic stress worsens the course of a number of diseases.

"The number of severe, uncontrolled hypertensive crises and arrhythmias among patients with arterial hypertension in combat zones rose significantly during the first year [of the war]," Bozhuk said. "Among patients with type 2 diabetes (more than 1,000 examined patients), key indicators also worsened. The worst results were recorded in the east and north of the country."

He also noted that chronic stress affects the female reproductive system.

"Many women of reproductive age in the most affected regions report menstrual cycle disorders, and pregnancy complications are recorded twice as often," he said.

Background: The World Health Organisation previously reported that almost half of Ukrainians have mental health problems due to the war.

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