Elsevier

Sleep Medicine

Volume 77, January 2021, Pages 177-183
Sleep Medicine

Original Article
Owls and larks do not exist: COVID-19 quarantine sleep habits

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sleep.2020.09.003Get rights and content

Highlights

  • COVID-19 pandemic presented a unique opportunity to study human chronotypes.

  • We analyzed 3787 subjects with average stay-at-home of 65 ± 9 days.

  • The majority of the participants (66.8%) shifted toward eveningness at stay-at-home.

  • In addition, 497 participants (13.1%) alternated their sleep habits.

  • Human chronotypes may change according to existing living conditions.

Abstract

Background

The coronavirus pandemic presented a unique opportunity to study the daily temporal patterns and sleep habits of humans. The question to be explored was: Are there discernible differences in sleep between the normal operational environment and the stay-at-home condition?

Methods

This international prospective study analyzed results from the sleep-wake patterns questionnaire, daily logs, and interviews. Surveys were administered to the healthy volunteers (age 15–60 y) with stay-at-home for a month or more, without previous sleep disorders and mood-related complaints; volunteers were not involved in online education/work daily timetable-related activities.

Results

We analyzed 3787 subjects with average stay-at-home of 65 ± 9 days. The most significant changes in sleep occurred during the first ten days when the difference between weekdays and weekends disappeared and changes occurred in napping habits. The majority of the participants (66.8%) shifted toward eveningness when the self-selected sleep was possible and 1869 volunteers appeared to be owls (49.4%), 823 (21.7%) exercised “typical” sleep, 478 (12.6%) were larks, and 617 (16.3%) participants were completely desynchronized to the end of stay-at-home. In addition, 497 participants (13.1%) alternated their sleep habits. The most of the desynchronized participants (n = 414) were older than 50 years (age correlation r = 0.80), and predominantly males (n = 297, r = 0.76).

Conclusion

In self-selected sleep conditions, the timing of sleep and sleep habits significantly differ from those of socially and economically fixed daily routine conditions. The changes in daily temporal patterns of humans during a prolonged stay-at-home situation indicate that human sleep habits may change according to existing living conditions.

Keywords

Coronavirus
COVID-19
Sleep habits
Stay-at-home
Sleep-wake cycle
Chronotype

Cited by (0)

1

The full list of AMHSI Research Team members can be found at the end of this article.

2

The full list of Milken Research Team can be found at the end of this article.

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