Is COVID-19 Keeping us Up at Night? Stress, Anxiety, and Sleep Among Adult Twins

Abstract

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, a variety of social distancing measures to mitigate the virus outbreak have been implemented. These measures may have unintended consequences on individuals’ well-being, such as increased stress, anxiety, and sleep disruptions. We investigated the extent to which individuals’ mental health status is associated with perceived changes in sleep amount and sleep quality among a sample of adult twin pairs (N = 909 pairs; 77% MZ, 23% DZ), less than a month after the outbreak was declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization. About half of participants reported no change in sleep amount (50.1%) or sleep quality (55.6%). Approximately one-third of the participants had increased amount of sleep (29.8%), and 32.9% reported a decrease in sleep quality. We found that stress and anxiety levels were associated with sleep reduction (ORs = 2.36 and 3.12 for stress and anxiety, respectively) and poorer sleep quality (ORs = 2.45 and 3.73 for stress and anxiety, respectively), even after taking into account between-family confounds. A much smaller association was observed between levels of stress and anxiety and increased sleep amount (ORs = 1.42 and 1.60 for stress and anxiety, respectively) and sleep quality (OR = 1.21 and 1.29 for stress and anxiety, respectively), which was no longer significant after controlling for between-family confounds. Our results demonstrate that stress and anxiety associated with the COVID-19 pandemic and social distancing measures may be linked to reduced sleep amount and quality.

Stress, coping, resilience, and sleep during the COVID‐19 pandemic: A representative survey study of US adults

“…Interestingly, pandemic-related stress was not significantly associated with sleep quality, and current research examining this relationship, particularly in US adult civilians, remains unclear (Benham, 2020;Kim-Godwin et al, 2021;Tsang et al, 2021;Ulrich et al, 2021). Our results instead suggest that resilience and coping during the coronavirus pandemic may influence sleep quality more than pandemic-related stress, which presents interesting applied implications.…”

“…Specifically, we were interested in determining if factors such as pandemic‐related stress, particular coping strategies, and resilience were associated with sleep quality while addressing relevant demographic and coronavirus‐contextual controls. Interestingly, pandemic‐related stress was not significantly associated with sleep quality, and current research examining this relationship, particularly in US adult civilians, remains unclear (Benham, 2020 ; Kim‐Godwin et al., 2021 ; Tsang et al., 2021 ; Ulrich et al., 2021 ). Our results instead suggest that resilience and coping during the coronavirus pandemic may influence sleep quality more than pandemic‐related stress, which presents interesting applied implications.…”

Associations Between Childhood Stressors, COVID-19-Related Anxiety, and Sleep Quality of Adults During the Third Wave of the COVID-19 Pandemic in Israel

“… 23 , 24 Individuals with higher levels of stress during the COVID-19 pandemic tended to report that their sleep quality was worse than it had been before the pandemic. 25 …”

“…23,24 Individuals with higher levels of stress during the COVID-19 pandemic tended to report that their sleep quality was worse than it had been before the pandemic. 25 Interpersonal differences in the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on anxiety and sleep quality may be explained by various factors that influence resilience to negative stressors. 26 One factor that may hinder such resilience in adults is a history of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs).…”

Sleep quality and patterns of young West Balkan adults during the third wave of COVID-19 pandemic: a cross-sectional study

“…It has been shown to impair sleep quality itself by causing breathing disorders or by altering structures in the central nervous system that control sleep–wake cycles, resulting in an abnormal sleep rhythm 6. Besides the direct effect of the SARS-CoV-2 infection-related symptoms and complications,7 8 various epidemiological measures implemented by countries all over the world in order to suppress virus transmission, to a considerable extent, have unintended consequences on individuals’ well-being, especially in terms of mental health and sleep quality 9 10. Those epidemiological measures include the closing of public spaces, limiting movement of the population, curfews, suspension of public transportation, closing borders, mandatory quarantine for people returning to their home country, as well as temporary closures of non-essential services while limiting working hours of essential services such as grocery stores, restaurants and others 11…”