The relation between alexithymia, eating attitude, and sleep pattern among university students during the lockdown period of COVID-19 pandemic

Abstract

Background: COVID-19 lockdown's impact on physical and mental health includes increased prevalence of alexithymia (difficulty recognizing emotions) among university students. Alexithymia is strongly correlated with eating disorders and disrupted eating behaviors. Understanding these associations is crucial for assessing the well-being of students during lockdown. Aims: The aim was to evaluate the prevalence of alexithymia and eating disorders in relation to sleep disturbance during this lockdown phase amongst university students. Settings and Design: This study employed an online cross-sectional design to collect data from participants. The study included adolescents of either gender, aged between 20 and 27 years, who were enrolled in the faculty of Allied Health Sciences at Manav Rachna International Institute of Research & Studies. Methods and Material: The study comprised 419 university students during the COVID-19 lockdown. Alexithymia was assessed using the Toronto Alexithymia Scale-20, eating disorders with the Eating Aptitude Test-26, and sleep patterns with a modified Pittsburgh Sleep Scale. Statistical Analysis Used: Descriptive statistics, including Mean±SD for continuous variables and frequency/percentages for categorical data, were calculated. Statistical analysis involved Student t-test and chi-square. Reliability of the questionnaire was assessed using Cronbach's Alpha. Results: This study involved 77.8% (n=326) female students as compared to 22.2%(n=93) male students. The prevalence of alexithymia was found to be considerably higher(30.5%) in the present study, with female students more affected than males. An eating disorder was found to be only 16.7%, and the majority of students (65.4%) had BMI in the range of normal weight. Further, the students reported the absence of sleep apnea with 41% of students having a sleep duration of 6-7 hours and 32% more than 7 hours. Only 19% of students reported poor sleep quality. Trouble sleeping during the initial 30 minutes prior to lying down, waking up in the middle of the night, and waking up to use the bathroom were the main factors causing sleep disturbances. Conclusions: This study reported a high alexithymia prevalence since there were under house arrest and going through psychological stress during lockdown phase of COVID-19 pandemic. Eating disorders was not prevalent because the students ate healthy balanced diets at home rather than junk food. Sleep patterns were also significantly improved and did not show any relation to the increased prevalence of alexithymia.