RELATIONSHIP OF EMOTIONS, SOCIAL ISOLATION, AND COVID-RELATED MEDIA TO SUBJECTIVE SLEEP QUALITY DURING THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC

Introduction: The COVID-19 pandemic safety restrictions led to changes in social interactions and information seeking about the virus. For some, these led to increased negative emotions, feelings of social isolation, and increased COVID-related media consumption. We examined the relationship of these variables to subjective sleep quality from participant daily diaries kept early in the pandemic. Methods: From April 20th-May 12th, 2020, college (students, faculty/ staff, alumni, parents) and local (churches, community centers, libraries) community members (N=94, 72 women, ages 18-77) completed a 30-minute survey for before and during social distancing (measuring: mental health, personality, social distancing, and demographics) for possible prizes. Participants then completed daily evening and morning diaries for 5-14 days describing daily affect, social isolation, emotion regulation, COVID media consumption, and subjective sleep quality. Results: Emotions: During the pandemic, poor sleep quality was predicted by less positive mood (r(91)=.486, p<.001) and more negative mood (r(91)=-.433, p<.001). Participants with poorer sleep quality reported less success regulating their emotions that day (r(90)=.292, p=.005) and greater suppression of emotions (rather than cognitive reappraisals to regulate them) (r(91)=-.260, p=.012). Social Isolation: Subjective sleep quality was not predicted by social distancing behaviors (r(88)=.069, p>.05);however, poorer sleep quality was significantly predicted by greater daily feelings of social isolation (r(91)=-.264, p=.005) and lower feelings of social life satisfaction (r(91)=.338, p<.001). COVID-related media: Sleep quality was not significantly related to COVID-media consumption for all participants;however, moderation analyses showed that participants with low avoidance coping, low neuroticism, and high emotional well-being did experience poorer sleep quality associated with greater COVID media consumption (all p's<.05). Conclusion: That mood and social isolation are associated with sleep quality replicates previous findings. The pandemic, however, provided a unique opportunity to observe these relationships in individuals not normally socially isolated because of confounding variables (e.g., health issues, depression, anxiety) with known relationships to sleep quality. That COVID-related media was only related to sleep quality for more well-adjusted participants (low avoidance coping, low neuroticism, high emotional well-being) was surprising, suggesting some may find COVID-19 information anxiety-relieving rather than anxiety-provoking.

Changes in sleep hygiene and sleepiness following social distancing related to COVID-19

Introduction: It was expected COVID-19 would result in changes that could impact sleep hygiene and sleep. We examined sleep hygiene and symptoms of disrupted sleep through late April and May and demographic and psychological variables related to vulnerability/ resilience to negative outcomes. Methods: Participants (Part1: N=180, Part2: N=64;ages 18-85) solicited from a college (students, faculty/staff, alumni, parents) and local community (churches, community centers, libraries) completed a 30-minute survey (measures: sleep hygiene (SH), symptoms of sleep disruption, mental health, personality, social distancing, COVID-19 impact/experience, and demographics) for possible prizes. Part 1, April 20th-May 12th, participants answered trait questionnaires and state questionnaires for before and during social distancing, then repeated state questionnaires two weeks later (Part 2). Results: Following initial COVID related changes, 66.1% of participants reported worsening symptoms of sleep disruption, 27.9% reported no change, and 6.3% reported improvements. 40.3% reported worsening SH, 53.5% no change, and 6.3% improvements. At 2-week follow-up, 30.4% of participants shifted from reporting no change to SH improvements over baseline. Overall, participants showed significant worsening of symptoms of sleep disruption (sleepiness, moodiness, avolition, cognitive impairments) and SH behaviors (less consistent bed- and wake-times, more frequently staying too long in bed, more pre-bed alerting activities, more bedtime negative emotion, more use of bed for purposes other than sleep, more active technology use) (d's from .23-1.00). Worsening sleep hygiene with COVID-19 was significantly predicted by younger age (r(157)=.164, p<.05), more avoidant coping (r(151)= -.337, p<.05), lower life satisfaction (r(156)=.200, p<.05) and greater impact/experience of COVID-19 (r(150)= -.270, p<.05). Symptoms of sleep disruption showed similar, but larger, relationships. Conclusion: Initial social distancing may have disrupted routines, added stress, and resulted in worsened sleep and sleep hygiene. Over time some adapted and improved, but most did not. Our results suggest change, especially crises such as a pandemic, may alter established behavior for the worse and/or add significant stress. Without intervention, even the robust, i.e., young, may suffer. Variables identifying those more vulnerable to disrupted sleep following change and those more likely to experience worsening sleep may help identify targets for future interventions.