Chronotype, food structure and anthropometric profile of university students during the Covid-19 pandemic

Introduction: The pandemic imposed the need for social distancing with a consequent modification of the work and study routines, which in turn led to numerous changes. Circadian desynchronization, changes in food consumption from omission of meals to nutritionally insufficient food intake, especially during the gym, where students report little time for self-care. Objective: To identify the chronotype, anthropometric profile and dietary structure of students at a public university located in the Midwest region of Brazil during the Covid-19 pandemic. Methods: Cross-sectional study with sample comes from the project mental health, nutritional care and standard of sleep in the university community during the covid-19 pandemic, carried out with university students who answered the online questionnaire to identify the chronotype Morningness- Eveningness Questionnaire, validated version for Brazilian population, and self-reported questions about food structure and anthropometric profile. Results: 106 students participated in the study, 33% (95%CI 23.6-41.5) often had less than three meals a day, 30% (95%CI 21.7-38.3) omitted breakfast and 22% (95%CI 12.5-31.9) do not have meals in appropriate places, 30.2% (95%CI 21.7-39.6) reported discomfort after meals, 40.6% (95%CI 32.1-50.9) have excess weight and 71.1% (95%CI 63.2-80.2) had weight gain in the last three months. About chronotype, 25.5% (95%CI 15.1-31.1) have classified as evening, 43.3% of them often skipping breakfast and 25.5% (95%CI 17,9 - 34.0) do not have class schedules compatible with chronotype. Conclusion: The high prevalence found of alterations in anthropometric profile and in food structure allow the planning of actions aimed at better synchronization of circadian rhythm and prevention of damage to health and better academic performance of these young people.

Sleep of young athletes during the COVID-19 pandemic

Introduction: In high-performance athletes, sleep is an important tool in physical and mental recovery due to routine training and competitions. However, given the COVID-19 pandemic, the lives of the entire population were changed. The routine of high-performance athletes, especially team sports, was directly impacted by the measures of social isolation, and understanding the extent of damage to athletes' sleep in this scenario is desirable. Objective: To evaluate the sleep pattern of young athletes in team sports during the Covid-19 pandemic. Methods: Young athletes of both sexes and federated in their respective team sports in the State of São Paulo and Paraná were evaluated. They were evaluated under two conditions: during social isolation (2020) and during the return to presential activities (2021). An anamnesis was carried out and questionnaires that assess sleep (Mini-Sleep, Epworth Sleepiness Scale and Morningness-Eveningness Questionnaire) were applied online through Google Forms. Paired t-test was used to compare the both moments. The study was approved by the UNIFESP Research Ethics Committee via Plataforma Brazil. Results: The sample consisted of 34 young people (24 boys and 10 girls), 15.79 ± 1.38 years, 62.17 ± 8.68 kg, 1.67 ± 0.08 m and BMI 22.12 ± 2.16 kg/m2. Among the sports played, 50% practice futsal, 23.5% handball, 17.6% soccer and 8.9% softball. They maintained a routine of 4.02 ± 1.29 days of training/week before the pandemic began, 4.02 ± 1.64 days/week during isolation, and 3.42 ± 1.09 days/week after return. Regarding the sleep of young athletes, they had good sleep quality and normal sleepiness. The sleep quality (26.20 ± 8.16 vs 25.27 ± 6.79) and daytime sleepiness (8.47 ± 4.88 vs 7.81 ± 3.53) showed no differences between the isolation period and the return, respectively. They had higher Social Jet lag during isolation (2.51 ± 1.31 hours) when compared to the return period (2.05 ± 1.13 hours, p = 0.04), in addition to shorter sleep duration during the week in the isolation period when compared to the return period (7.95 ± 1.55 vs 8.56 ± 1.63, p = 0.01). Conclusion: The young athletes kept their training routines at home during social isolation, and with the return to the presential training and collective activities, they decreased the Social Jet lag and increased the hours of sleep during the week, suggesting that the pandemic negatively influenced their sleep.

Are anxiety and depression related to poor sleep quality in university professors during the COVID-19 pandemic?

Introduction: University professors present several mental health-related symptoms, such as sleep disorders, anxiety and depression. During the COVID-19 pandemic, health practitioners and researchers observed a surge in depressive and anxious symptoms and worse sleep quality. Objective: To analyze factors associated with poor sleep quality among university professors during the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: A virtual questionnaire via Google Forms® platform was sent to professors via university working groups and e-mail lists. The instrument comprised questions about gender, age, self-isolation and specific questionnaires: Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI);State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI);Mental Health Index (MHI-5);Morningness-Eveningness Questionnaire (MEQ) and International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ). All of the participants signed an Informed Consent Term, and the research was approved by the Ethics Committee in Research (no. 4.036.797). The data were analyzed using IBM Statistical Packages for the Social Sciences® version 26.0 and a descriptive level criterion of 5% (p<0.05) was adopted. Results: A total of 96 participants participated in the study. Half of the participants (n=48) had poor sleep quality in the study. Using bivariate analysis, state-anxiety (p=0.014) and depressive symptoms (p=0.038) were the only factors associated with poor sleep quality. 52.1% of the sample had medium to high anxiety risk (STAI-S), and among them, 62.0% had poor sleep quality. 41.7% of the university professors had depressive symptoms, and from those, 62.5% were not sleeping well. In a binary logistic regression model, professors with depressive symptoms had a 2.39 times higher risk of poor sleep quality (p=0.040/ 95% CI: 1.04-5.50);and those with state-anxiety had a 2.78 times higher risk of poor sleep quality (p=0.015/ 95% CI: 1.22-6.37). Conclusion: In this study, the presence of state-anxiety or depressive symptoms were risk factors associated with the higher incidence of poor sleep quality among university professors.

CHRONOTYPE PREDICTS HEALTH OUTCOMES BUT NOT SLEEP DURATION IN EARLY PANDEMIC SLEEP SCHEDULES

Introduction: Lockdowns associated with the COVID-19 pan-demic allowed for individuals to change their schedules. Chronicity is a trait-like preference for individuals' times of the day for activity and feeling best. As a result of the lockdowns, some individuals were able to adjust their schedule to reflect personal chronotype needs. This study examined whether chronotype predicted sleep duration and health outcomes. Methods: A sample of 304 participants were recruited through Amazon's Mechanical Turk service to fill out surveys relating to personality and health. Individuals responded with their normal bedtime and waketime for weeknights and weekends and filled out the Morningness-Eveningness Questionnaire (MEQ;Horne & Östberg, 1976). Self-reported health outcomes were measured via 9 items on the Patient Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System (PROMIS;Cella et al., 2010). Data were cleaned and analyzed via linear regressions in SPSS with age, sex, race, ethnicity and education as covariates. Results: Participants reported an average of 8.52 hours of sleep (SD = 1.97 hours). 35.3% of the sample scored strong- or moder-ately morning-type, 54.7% were neither morning-nor evening-type and 10% scored as evening- or strong-evening types (M = 54.95;SD = 9.42). Results from the PROMIS ranged from 18 to 45 (M = 32.24, SD = 5.49). The model predicting sleep duration (R2 = .06, p = .03) produced a significant effect of ethnicity but not chronicity. Hispanic or Latino ethnicity reported shorter sleep durations relative to those who self-identified as non-Hispanic or Latino. The model predicting PROMIS (general health) scores (R2 = .14, p < .001) produced effects of education (b = .46, p = .04) and Morningness (b = .21, p < .001). People with higher educa-tional levels and those with morning preferences reported better health. Conclusion: Morningness is often associated with better self-regula- tion, lower risky behaviors, better physical and mental health and better sleep. During the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic, lockdowns allowed many individuals more scheduling flexibility. As a result, sleep duration differences across chronotypes were ab -sent, though health differences remained. Future research should continue to explore differences in sleep schedules in predicting.