Editorial Perspective: Perils and promise for child and adolescent sleep and associated psychopathology during the COVID‐19 pandemic

Abstract

It is anticipated that the novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID‐19) pandemic and associated societal response will have wide‐ranging impacts on youth development and mental health. Sleep is crucial for child and adolescent health and well‐being, and the potential for sleep problems to emerge or worsen during and following the pandemic is high. This may be particularly true for children and adolescents who are at heightened risk for the onset of sleep and mental health disturbances and for those whom developmental changes impacting sleep are rapidly occurring. Youth with preexisting psychopathologies (including anxiety and depression) and neurodevelopmental conditions (including attention‐deficit/hyperactivity disorder and autism spectrum disorder) could be especially vulnerable to disturbed sleep during this period of change and uncertainty. It is thus imperative that sleep considerations be part of research and clinical initiatives aimed at understanding and mitigating the impact of the COVID‐19 pandemic in children and adolescents. This article considers ways in which the pandemic may impact sleep, including research and clinical implications.

Interviewing children: the impact of the COVID-19 quarantine on children’s changes in routine and psychological distress. 

“…Speci cally, a longitudinal study of children and adolescents with obesity a rmed that eating, activity, and sleep behaviors changed in an unfavorable direction 3 weeks into their con nement during the national lockdown [18] Are changes in sleep temporary, or will a subset of youth experience longer-term sleep disturbances that originated during the COVID-19 pandemic? Will changes in sleep patterns (such as an increasingly late bedtime in adolescents) result in difficulties once normality starts to return (e.g., when schools reopen and early mornings are required once more) [13]?…”

“…A 4-point Likert-type scale was employed to measure the anxiety level: 0 "never", 1 "sometimes", 2 "lots of times", 3 "almost all the time". We divided the scores into 3 main categories: normal anxiety (0-9), mild to moderate anxiety (10)(11)(12)(13)(14), and severe anxiety (15)(16)(17)(18): a subject scored positive for anxiety if the total score was ≥ 10.…”

“…The social distancing and stay-at-home orders issued in cities across the globe obviously reduce the opportunities for physical activity among children, particularly for children in urban areas living in small apartments. Isolation and shielding could result in increased sedentary behaviours and food consumption, which are likely to impact weight and consequently health and sleep over time [12,13].…”

Saúde mental e qualidade do sono entre estudantes universitários em tempos de pandemia da COVID-19: experiência de um programa de assistência estudantil

“…Além disso, também são atribuídas ao sono funções como a manutenção do equilíbrio geral do organismo, a consolidação da memória e a regulação da temperatura corporal. Estudos na literatura abordam a importância do sono para o desenvolvimento cognitivo especialmente entre universitários (Becker & Gregory, 2020).…”

Child and parent physical activity, sleep and screen time during COVID-19 compared to pre-pandemic nationally representative data and associations with mental health

“…While there have been several commentaries published on the topic, 5,6 there is limited evidence on how these COVID-19 related restrictions may be affecting people's physical activity, sleep quality and sedentary behavior, including recreational screen time. However, emerging literature points to a range of negative impacts of COVID-19 restrictions across these domains.…”