ABSTRACT
Introduction Amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, widespread feelings of social isolation have become more prevalent than ever before as lockdowns and social distancing measures led people to remain in their homes. The constructs of social isolation and loneliness are similar but reflect slightly different aspects of social experience. Social isolation reflects the amount of social contact a person experiences, whereas loneliness reflects the subjective experience of an emotional yearning for such contact. While is known that sleep problems have increased during the pandemic, there has been little research into the potential effects of social isolation on sleep problems. Here, we examined the influence of social isolation on the extent to which insomnia has interfered with daily life activities. We hypothesized that social isolation would contribute to greater disruption in daily functioning from insomnia, exclusive of the effects of loneliness. Methods 13,298 English-speaking adults from across the U.S. (18-92 years old;57.5% female) completed an online battery of assessments that included demographic questions, the Insomnia Severity Index (ISI), and the UCLA Loneliness Scale – Version 3 between April 2020 and April 2021. Participants were grouped based on whether they felt “socially isolated” or not at the time of assessment. Social isolation groups were compared for the extent that insomnia interfered with daily functioning, while statistically controlling for loneliness. Results After controlling for loneliness, socially isolated individuals reported much greater daily interference from sleep problems, M=1.58, SD=1.19, compared to those who denied feeling socially isolated, M=0.96, SD=1.04, F(1,13295)=287.67, p=7.5x10-64. Conclusion Social isolation during the pandemic was associated with significantly greater disruption of daily functioning due to sleep-related issues, even after adjusting for self-reported loneliness. Thus, feeling isolated and lacking social contact was related to functional degradation due to sleep problems. Prior evidence suggests that social isolation can have a dramatic negative impact on mental health and can lead to increased all-cause mortality, but these results suggest social isolation may also impact sleep health and functional outcomes (whether that be physical, cognitive, or psychological). Thus, being isolated during the pandemic was associated with greater degradation of functional outcomes of sleep, regardless of subjective loneliness. Support (If Any)
ABSTRACT
Objectives: During the first peak of the COVID-19 outbreak in the United States, we investigated the impact of digital interventions to reduce COVID-19 related fear, loneliness, and public stigma. Methods: We recruited and randomly assigned 988 United States residents to: 1) no intervention 2) informational sheet to learn about COVID-19, 3) (2) AND video encouraging digital social activity, 4) (2) AND video sensitizing to COVID-19 related stigma (registered in Clinicaltrials.gov). Surveys were conducted between April 2-16, 2020. We employed generalized linear mixed models to investigate intervention effects. Results: 10% of the participants reported not being afraid of people COVID-19+ and 32% reported not feeling lonely. Stigma and fear items reflected acute worries about the outbreak. Relative to the informational sheet only group, video groups led to greater reduction in perceptions of fear towards COVID-19+ (ORvideo.solo = 0.78, p-val<0.001; ORvideo.friend = 0.79, p-val<0.001) and of stigma (BETAvideo.solo = -0.50, p-val<0.001; BETAvideo.friend = -0.69, p-val<0.001). Conclusion: Video-based interventions lead to reductions in COVID-19-related fear and stigma. No difference in social activity among groups was found, potentially explaining lack of efficacy on loneliness.