Summary: A new study sheds light on how COVID-19 has impacted sleep and mental health. Researchers found 32.9% of people reported a decrease in sleep and 29.8% said they slept more during the lockdown. Changes in sleep patterns correlated with self-reported mental health difficulties during this time, which mostly led to sleep loss.
Source: Washington State University
Many people likely lost sleep over COVID-19. A study of twins led by Washington State University researchers found that stress, anxiety and depression during the first few weeks of the pandemic were associated with less and lower quality sleep.
In a survey of more than 900 twins taken shortly after COVID-19 lockdown measures began, about half of the respondents reported no change in their sleep patterns, but around a third, 32.9%, reported decreased sleep. Another 29.8% reported sleeping more. In the analysis, the researchers found that any change in sleep was connected to self-reported mental health issues, though it was more strongly associated with decreased sleep.
“The results show that deviations from your typical sleep behavior may be associated with depression, anxiety and stress,” said Siny Tsang, lead author on the study published in Frontiers in Neuroscience.
Tsang, a staff scientist with the WSU Elson S. Floyd College of Medicine, emphasized that this showed a connection, not a cause, but the study supports previous research that has found a two-way relationship between disrupted sleep patterns and poor mental health. In other words, when people don’t sleep well, they are more likely to feel stress, anxiety and depression, and when they are dealing with those same problems, they are more likely to sleep less–and sometimes more–than the typical six to nine hours a night.
This study analyzes survey responses collected between March 26 and April 5, 2020 from participants in the Washington State Twin Registry. Since then, the same group has answered three more waves of survey questions. Researchers are particularly interested in studying twins, so they can investigate whether associations are mediated by genetic factors, shared environment, or both. The pandemic also offered an opportunity for a natural experiment to see how a stressful situation affects sleep amount and quality among individuals in the community, Tsang said.
The research relies on the self-reported perception of sleep length and quality, but the researcher said that when it comes to mental health, perception can matter more than the real amount of sleep.
“Even if your cell phone says you consistently sleep eight hours every day, you may feel that you slept less or slept poorly, and that may be linked to stressful or anxious feelings,” Tsang said. “It may not matter whether or not the actual number has changed. It’s how you are feeling that is associated with your mental health.”
WSU researchers have also conducted twin-studies on COVID-19 lockdown effects on alcohol use and pandemic stress and exercise. These have all been initial studies taken at the early stages of the pandemic and associated social distancing measures. The scientists are still analyzing results of later surveys, but they are starting to see a common theme.
“A pattern that is consistent across these three studies is that people who reported change in physical exercise, alcohol use or sleep are more stressed, anxious and depressed than those who had said that they have had no change,” Tsang said.
About this stress and sleep research news
Source: Washington State University
Contact: Siny Tsang – Washington State University
Image: The image is in the public domain
Original Research: Open access.
“Is COVID-19 Keeping us Up at Night? Stress, Anxiety, and Sleep Among Adult Twins” by Siny Tsang et al. Frontiers in Neuroscience
Abstract
Is COVID-19 Keeping us Up at Night? Stress, Anxiety, and Sleep Among Adult Twins
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.