COVID-19 Affected Sleep Quality by Increasing Screen Time

Strategies like lockdowns have been adapted to curb COVID infection. However, these lockdowns affected the sleep quality of humans by increasing the screen time among public, says a study.

Researchers found that sleep quality during the pandemic time has been greatly affected by an increase in screen time . The findings of this study are published in the journal Sleep .

Dr. Federico Salfi, Ph.D. student and first author of the paper, says "The overuse of electronic devices in the hours before sleep was a deeply rooted habit in our society already before the pandemic emergency, in particular among young people. In our opinion, the current period of social distancing added fuel to the fire."

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People who had higher screen times constituted about 92.9% and they reported decreased sleep quality and shorter total sleep times

A total of 2,123 Italian residents attended web-based surveys to investigate the association between screen-time and sleep quality. The first survey was performed in the third week of lockdown (March 25th - 28th, 2020) and the second one was performed in the seventh week of lockdown (April 21st - 27th, 2020). Both had questions regarding sleep quality and insomnia symptoms. Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index and the Insomnia Severity Index were adopted to measure the corresponding factors.

Based on the assessments, it was found that

• 92.9% of the participants reported an increase in their screen time between the first and second lockdowns. Additionally, they were associated with decreased sleep quality, an increase in insomnia symptoms, shorter total sleep times, and later bedtimes and rising times.

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• The remaining 7.1% of participants reported improved sleep quality and fewer symptoms of insomnia that can be linked to their reduced gadget usage between the first and second lockdowns. They were "early to bed" after four weeks of home confinement.

Prof. Michele Ferrara, Director of the Laboratory of Sleep Psychophysiology and Cognitive Neuroscience at the University of L'Aquila, says "The evidence of a strong relationship between screen habits and the time course of sleep disturbances during the lockdown period suggests that now, more than never, raising public awareness about the risks of evening exposure to electronic devices could be crucial to preserve general sleep health. This applies to both the ongoing pandemic and the future, as electronic technologies will find more and more space in our daily routine."

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The study throws light on the negative effects of COVID-19 lockdowns which could be devastating for people already suffering from poor sleep quality.

Source-Medindia

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