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Impact of COVID-19 Mobility Restrictions on Sleep and Well-Being

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COVID-19 and Sleep: A Global Outlook

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted lives around the world. Mobility restrictions imposed to stem the spread of the disease severely disrupted the daily routines of billions of people. We review how mobility restrictions have affected sleep, well-being, and performance among general populations around the world. Overall, clear shifts toward later sleep timing, and longer sleep duration have been observed in response to mobility restrictions. At the same time sleep quality deteriorated. Within these broad shifts in sleep characteristics, there was heterogeneity in response among individuals. Elderly people, generally experienced small changes in sleep during movement restrictions while school-aged children and adolescents showed the largest change. Individuals who have an evening chronotype showed larger sleep changes than morning-type persons. Evening chronotypes also showed the most increase in insomnia and depression symptoms. Finally, we discuss how hybrid work, blended learning, and routine-setting to reinforce social time cues could be beneficial adjustments to improve sleep in the post-pandemic world.

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Massar, S.A.A., Ong, J., Chee, M.W.L. (2023). Impact of COVID-19 Mobility Restrictions on Sleep and Well-Being. In: BaHammam, A., Pandi-Perumal, S.R., Jahrami, H. (eds) COVID-19 and Sleep: A Global Outlook. Progress in Sleep Research. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-99-0240-8_8

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