Stress-, anxiety-, and cellphone use-induced sleep deficits and psychological conditions during the pandemic and a potential remedy

ABSTRACT

Stress-induced sleep and psychological problems are common in modern life. The rapid spread of COVID-19 and implementation of social isolation has diminished social activities, leading to major changes in daily lifestyles.Unprecedented changes, coupled with the fear induced by the pandemic, have added stress and anxiety for a large segment of the population. Interestingly, within this timeframe, there has been a significant increase in cellphone dependence, which may be linked to social isolation. These events could result in a disruption in sleep patterns and increase in psychological challenges. In this study, we surveyed 288 volunteers to gain insight into how stress, anxiety, and time spent on cellphones affected sleep and mood. In addition, we developed an herbal compound preparation, “Smarto-One”, which is rich in flavonoids that play a role in GABAA receptor modulation. We tested its therapeutic effects on these conditions presumably linked to social isolation. We found 1) a negative linear correlation between sleep duration vs stress level and time on cellphone. 2) a negative correlation between wake-up mood/symptoms vs stress. 3) volunteers taking Smarto-One showed substantial improvements in stress levels, hours of sleep, cellphone dependence, and wake-up mood/symptoms as compared to taking placebo. Overall, this work illustrates the value of Smarto-One as an alternative remedy for improving overall mental health and wellbeing. (Int J Biomed Sci 2021;17 (3) 40-49).