Pre-pandemic sleep behavior and adolescents’ stress during Covid-19: a prospective longitudinal study

Abstract

Objective To prospectively document changes in adolescents’ sleep before versus during the COVID-19 pandemic, and to examine their impact on adolescents’ perceived stress. Methods Sixty-two typically developing adolescents participated in the study before (Time 1: January 15 to March 13, 2020) and during (Time 2: May 15 to June 30, 2020) the COVID-19 pandemic in Canada. At Time 1, each participant’s sleep pattern was assessed in the home environment using actigraphy and sleep logs for seven consecutive nights. Adolescents completed a battery of questionnaires in which they reported on their sleep schedule, duration, and quality, as well as their activities at bedtime, their daytime sleepiness, and their social/emotional behavior. The participants’ parents provided demographic information. At Time 2, each participant completed a sleep log, the same battery of questionnaires regarding sleep, and the Perceived Stress Scale. Results (1) Adolescents’ reported sleep was of longer duration and on a delayed schedule during the COVID-19 pandemic compared to pre-pandemic. (2) A larger proportion of adolescents reported meeting or exceeding the recommended amount of sleep during the COVID-19 pandemic compared to pre-pandemic sleep. (3) “Social jet lag” disappeared during the COVID-19 pandemic. (4) A shorter reported sleep duration and higher level of arousal at bedtime at Time 1 were significant predictors of adolescents’ perceived stress at Time 2—during the COVID-19 pandemic. (5) A higher levels of arousal at bedtime and lower reported sleep quality at Time 2 were concurrently associated with higher levels of perceived stress among adolescents, even when we controlled for the levels of pre-pandemic emotional or behavioral issues, sleep duration, or sleep quality. Conclusion Sleep duration and cognitive-emotional arousal, which are both modifiable behaviors, were associated with adolescents’ perceived stress during the COVID-19 pandemic. These behaviors could be useful targets for preventive interventions aiming to reduce adolescents’ stress in the face of stressogenic situations, such as the COVID-19 pandemic.

Time to Sleep?—A Review of the Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Sleep and Mental Health

“…Overall, conflicting results have been reported. While some studies reported a relatively constant sleep time [ 62 ], multiple others reported an increase in overall sleep time [ 63 , 64 , 65 , 66 ], with most studies reporting a decrease in sleep quality [ 62 , 63 , 64 , 66 ].…”

“…As such, a decrease in individuals not obtaining the recommended hours of sleep has been highlighted (<8 h of sleep; 20% before the pandemic, 9.5% during the pandemic). As noted by the authors, the delayed school time could have benefited the physiologically delayed bed and wake times in this age group, thus significantly decreasing sleep debt and social jet lag [ 65 ]. In accordance with this point of view, delayed school start times have been shown to be an effective method for promoting sleep health [ 67 ].…”

Changes in sleep patterns of college students in Israel during COVID-19 lockdown, a sleep diaries study

“…For two consecutive months, which included lockdown and post-lockdown periods, students were asked to fill out daily sleep logs in which they reported their sleep onset and offset times. Up to now, to the best of our knowledge, sleep logs were used to investigate the effects of lockdowns on sleep–wake behavior in only few published studies [ 22 , 23 , 26 , 27 ]. In the first and last participants filled out sleep logs for one week before lockdown and again one week during lockdown, in the second, participants used a smartphone sleep app, and in the third participants used modified versions of sleep logs.…”

Adolescent sleep – lessons from COVID-19

“…A longitudinal study by Gruber et al, (2021) compared the sleep of a cohort of 62 typically developing Canadian adolescents before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. Using home actigraphy and questionnaires, this study was compared sleep duration, quality, behaviours and social/ emotional states across these time points.…”

“…Interestingly, the level of social support given over the pandemic period did not have a relationship to sleep. In a similar way to Gruber et al, (2021), the authors recommend a focus on interventions to encourage cognitive reappraisal and humour in order to aid resilience, which may positively impact on sleep. It should be noted that this study was not carried out using adolescent sleep measures, which is a potential future direction for study.…”