Changes in Sleep Across Different Phases of Life of Medical Students and Impact of Home Confinement on Sleep during COVID-19 Lockdown

Abstract

Introduction: Sleep is indispensable. The sleep habits changes with age and is influenced by external factors. The nationwide enforcement of complete lockdown lead to home confinement of all the students as classes in colleges were suspended on orders of the Government of India. Aim: To find out changes in the sleep pattern and quality in different phases of life of the students namely from school days, to college days and during the period of home confinement during COVID-19 pandemic. Materials and Methods: A questionnaire in the form of online form was shared with the students of MBBS first year in four Government medical colleges of Madhya Pradesh during nationwide lockdown on 1st May, 2020. The information about sleep pattern, usual bed time, average duration of sleep, sleep quality and student’s perception about adequate sleep during college days and during lockdown period was recorded. The statistical analysis was done by Wilcoxon signed rank test, and Chi-squaretest. Thesatisfaction with sleep quality was recorded on a five point Likert’s scale as very dissatisfied, dissatisfied, neither satisfied nor dissatisfied, satisfied and very satisfied. Results: A total 760 students participated in the present study. During usual college days among all participants, majority 373 (49.1%) of them had night owl type of sleep pattern. Maximum number of students 358 (47.10%) had morning lark type of sleep pattern during school days. The highest percentage of students 271 (35.7%) with no fixed pattern of sleep was observed during the period of home confinement due to lockdown. A total of 383 (50.4%) students reported that their average duration of night sleep during usual college days was six to seven hours per day. A total of 698 (91.8%) students reported that they are able to take adequate sleep at home during lockdown period. A statistically significant association was found between sleep pattern during college days and gender of participants (p-value <0.01). Wilcoxon signed rank test results showed statistically significant (p<0.001) change in number of students whose bed time changed during college days as compared to school days and during lockdown as compared to bed time during college days. Conclusion: In majority of the participants, sleep pattern changed to night owl type during college days from morning lark type during school days. The home confinement in lockdown period due to global viral pandemic has positively impacted sleep of students in terms of bed time, sleep quality and quantity.