Impact of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic on sleep

Abstract

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has led to significant changes in daily routines and lifestyle worldwide and mental health issues have emerged as a consequence. We aimed to assess the presence of sleep disturbances during the lockdown in the general population.Methods: Cross-sectional, online survey-based study on adults living through the COVID-19 pandemic.The questionnaire included demographics and specific questions assessing the impact of the pandemic/ lockdown on sleep, daytime functioning and mental health in the general population. Identification of sleep pattern changes and specific sleep-related symptoms was the primary outcome, and secondary outcomes involved identifying sleep disturbances for predefined cohorts (participants reporting impact on mental health, self-isolation, keyworker status, suspected COVID-19 or ongoing COVID-19 symptoms).Results: In total, 843 participants were included in the analysis. The majority were female (67.4%), middle aged [52 years (40-63 years)], white (92.2%) and overweight to obese [BMI 29.4 kg/m 2 (24.1-35.5 kg/m 2 )]; 69.4% reported a change in their sleep pattern, less than half (44.7%) had refreshing sleep, and 45.6% were sleepier than before the lockdown; 33.9% had to self-isolate, 65.2% reported an impact on their mental health and 25.9% were drinking more alcohol during the lockdown. More frequently reported observations specific to sleep were 'disrupted sleep' (42.3%), 'falling asleep unintentionally' (35.2%), 'difficulties falling'/'staying asleep' (30.9% and 30.8%, respectively) and 'later bedtimes' (30.0%). Respondents with suspected COVID-19 had more nightmares and abnormal sleep rhythms. An impact on mental health was strongly associated with sleep-related alterations.Conclusions: Sleep disturbances have affected a substantial proportion of the general population during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown. These are significantly associated with a self-assessed impact on mental health, but may also be related to suspected COVID-19 status, changes in habits and self-isolation.

Dreaming in Adolescents During the COVID-19 Health Crisis: Survey Among a Sample of European School Students

“…Moreover, a shift toward more negative dreams was found, which was directly related to the subjective stress in waking life, for example, social distancing affected mental health (Barrett, 2020;Iorio et al, 2020;Mota et al, 2020;Schredl and Bulkeley, 2020). In a similar way, the frequency of nightmares increased during the pandemic in both clinical (Gupta, 2020;Sierro et al, 2020) and normative samples of adults (Musse et al, 2020;Pérez-Carbonell et al, 2020;Scarpelli et al, 2021).…”

Would we recover better sleep at the end of Covid-19? A relative improvement observed at the population level with the end of the lockdown in France

“…During the confinement, these categories of the population had to handle childcare and homeschooling at home and were forced to follow irregular and stressful timetables [ 26 ]. The ending of the confinement allowed them to recover a more personalized sleep-wake rhythm, which was deeply menaced during the confinement [ 27 ].…”

Sleep in Older Adults and Its Possible Relations With COVID-19

“…Older adults seem to be at particular risk of reducing their total sleep time during the COVID-19 pandemic. In an online study with 843 participants carried out in the United Kingdom, sleep-restricted individuals (those sleeping <6 h per night) were on average older than those not sleep-restricted (Pérez-Carbonell et al, 2020). Among all the effects of sleep deprivation, the most significant in relation to COVID-19 is the impairment of the immune response.…”