The First Minister has revealed that the magnitude of Covid-19 is sometimes overwhelming.
During an interview with Jennifer Reoch and Des Clarke on Heart Scotland Drive on Wednesday night, Nicola Sturgeon said that the worry of coronavirus, as well as having family members working on the front line, often takes its toll on her mental health.
Ms Reoch said she had been struggling during the lockdown, saying: "It's difficult for everyone, everyone's having those moments where you just have a bit of a meltdown. Have you had those moments as well?"
Sturgeon replied: "It's about always remembering that - and I know people struggle with the notion that politicians are human - but we're human beings.
"There are moments when, over the last few weeks, when I've got home at night and just felt a little bit overwhelmed by the magnitude of it, and I've shed a few tears over the course of the last few weeks.
"But it's really important - nobody wants me to be having a meltdown if I can avoid it - so I try to have these moments, not let them last too long, and pull myself together to get on with it."
Sturgeon added: "I'm trying to remind myself that there are aspects of this that are not normal, that are much bigger than anything I've dealt with before, so remembering that, I have to take time just to deal with that."
She added that being able to offload emotions to her husband Peter has allowed some relief for when things get too heavy.
Sturgeon has two family members working in the health service, her sister and sister-in-law.
She said: "If you're working in the health service you're dealing with the up close and personal.
"You'll be seeing some terrible, horrible things.
"You'll be with patients in the last moments of their life so nothing I can say is comparing with that in any way, but standing up as I do at the daily briefing every day and announcing numbers of people who have died is not easy.
"It's really difficult. And I always try to remind myself that these aren't statistics, they are people, and in my head as I read out these statistics, I'm always thinking about people. About my own relatives, about people I know, because it could be any one of us."
