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CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 · Sleep Sci 2020; 13(03): 186-190
DOI: 10.5935/1984-0063.20200031
THEORETICAL ESSAYS

Impact of Covid-19 on the restless legs syndrome

Beatriz Franco
1   Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Faculdade de Educação Física - Campinas - Sao Paulo - Brazil.
,
Milca Abda Morais
2   Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Faculdade de Ciências Aplicadas - Limeira - Sao Paulo - Brazil.
,
Alessandro Spencer de Souza Holanda
2   Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Faculdade de Ciências Aplicadas - Limeira - Sao Paulo - Brazil.
,
Mauro Manconi
3   Civic Hospital of Lugano (EOC), Sleep and Epilepsy Center, Neurocenter of Southern Switzerland - Lugano - Ticino - Switzerland.
,
Marco Túlio de Mello
4   Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Escola de Educação Física, Fisioterapia e Terapia Ocupacional - Belo Horizonte - Minas Gerais - Brazil.
,
Andrea Maculano Esteves
2   Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Faculdade de Ciências Aplicadas - Limeira - Sao Paulo - Brazil.
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The COVID-19 pandemic is strongly impacting global health and mental health, and has caused routine changes in much of the world. All of these changes can have physical and mental consequences for the population. Metabolic changes, mood disorders and their pharmacotherapy, such as the use of antidepressants can increase the chances of developing sleep disorders, such as Restless Legs Syndrome (RLS). As a way to avoid immunosuppression and the greater risk of contamination of COVID-19, it is recommended to perform exercise in light or moderate intensity. This is the first paper to reflect a possible impact of social distancing on RLS, and how it can affect the incidence of mood disorders and metabolic changes in this syndrome, as well as the quality of life of the population. We suggest that regular exercise at light or moderate intensity during home confinement may be effective strategies to minimize the changes caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Anxiety - Coronavirus - Depression - Exercise - Heart Diseases - Sleep-Related Movement Disorder


Publication History

Received: 26 May 2020

Accepted: 17 June 2020

Article published online:
09 November 2023

© 2023. Brazilian Sleep Association. This is an open access article published by Thieme under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonDerivative-NonCommercial License, permitting copying and reproduction so long as the original work is given appropriate credit. Contents may not be used for commercial purposes, or adapted, remixed, transformed or built upon. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)

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