A Circadian Hygiene Education Initiative Covering the Pre-pandemic and Pandemic Period Resulted in Earlier Get-Up Times in Italian University Students: An Ecological Study

Abstract

The aims of the present study were to obtain sleep quality and sleep timing information in a group of university students and to evaluate the effects of a circadian hygiene education initiative. All students of the University of Padova (approximately 64,000) were contacted by e-mail (major campaigns in October 2019 and October 2020) and directed to an ad hoc website for collection of demographics and sleep quality/timing information. Participants (n = 5,740) received one of two sets of circadian hygiene advice (“A regular life” or “Bright days and dark nights”). Every month, they were then asked how easy it had been to comply and provided with the advice again. At any even month from joining, they completed the sleep quality/timing questionnaires again. Information on academic performance was obtained post hoc, together with representative samples of lecture (n = 5,972) and examination (n = 1,800) timings, plus lecture attendances (n = 25,302). Fifty-two percent of students had poor sleep quality, and 82% showed signs of social jetlag. Those who joined in October 2020, after several months of lockdown and distance learning, had better sleep quality, less social jetlag, and later sleep habits. Over approximately a year, the “Bright days and dark nights” advice resulted in significantly earlier get-up times compared with the “A regular life” advice. Similarly, it also resulted in a trend toward earlier midsleep (i.e., the midpoint, expressed as clock time, between sleep onset and sleep offset) and toward a decrease in the latency between wake-up and get-up time, with no impact on sleep duration. Significant changes in most sleep quality and sleep timing variables (i.e., fewer night awakenings, less social jetlag, and delayed sleep timing during lock-down) were observed in both advice groups over approximately a year, mostly in association with pandemic-related events characterizing 2020. Early chronotype students had better academic performances compared with their later chronotype counterparts. In a multivariate model, sleep quality, chronotype and study subject (science and technology, health and medical, or social and humanities) were independent predictors of academic performance. Taken together, these results underlie the importance of designing circadian-friendly university timetables.

Diurnal rhythmicity of wearable device-measured wrist temperature predicts future disease incidence in the UK Biobank

“…These are natural steps to disentangle causal relationship where circadian disruption raises disease susceptibility and severity while many diseases disrupt circadian rhythms 26 . These insights are expected to empower a more nuanced personalization of circadian health 49 , balancing lifestyle risk factors and disease pathology.…”

Entendiendo el impacto de los horarios de estudio en el rendimiento académico universitario en línea

“…Schuelper et al (2019) concluyen que los tiempos de dedicación pueden variar entre alumnos y asignaturas en cuanto los contenidos sean textuales o multimedia, siendo aquellos recursos en formato vídeo los que aumentan los tiempos de dedicación. Montagnese et al (2022) presentan un estudio para relacionar la calidad y el tiempo del sueño en un grupo de estudiantes universitarios; el estudio concluye que los estudiantes de cronotipo temprano obtienen mejores rendimientos académicos en comparación con sus contrapartes de cronotipo posterior. Vollmer et al (2017) investigan los problemas del sueño en la adolescencia, esperando que la orientación nocturna esté asociada con muchos problemas relacionados con el sueño; los resultados del estudio concluyen que los alumnos vespertinos tienen mucho más desfase en el horario social, más sueño y más problemas para ir a la cama, que postergados a lo largo del tiempo afectan a los rendimientos en etapas de educación superior.…”

Diurnal rhythms of wrist temperature are associated with future disease risk in the UK Biobank

“…These are potential steps to disentangle causal relationships where circadian disruption raises disease susceptibility and severity while many diseases disrupt circadian rhythms 27 . These insights are expected to empower a more nuanced personalization of circadian health 50 , balancing lifestyle risk factors and disease pathology.…”