By By Robert Preidt HealthDay Reporter, HealthDay Reporter
(Health day)
TUESDAY, April 26, 2022 (HealthDay News) — Having trouble sleeping during the COVID-19 pandemic?
You may be at higher risk for anxiety, depression, and other mental health problems.
That is the key conclusion of an analysis of data collected from nearly 5,000 people who used a digital device to sleep before and during the pandemic.
The authors also examined responses to a June 2020 mental health survey completed by about 15% of those users.
“In addition to sleep during the pandemic, people’s sleep patterns before the start of the pandemic were associated with their odds of mental health symptoms during the pandemic,” said study author Mark Czeisler, of Brigham and Women’s Hospital. from Boston.
“We don’t know the direction of this relationship, the degree to which mental health influences sleep, sleep influences mental health, or both, but we do see evidence of an important role for sleep during the pandemic, especially when we look for risk factors. modifiable risk factors that could help improve mental health,” Czeisler said in a hospital news release.
His team found that, on average, study participants slept 15 minutes longer each night and had more consistent sleep time during the pandemic. They went to bed later but woke up even later than usual.
But not everyone slept better, and sleep worsened in a subset of people in the study.
About 20 percent of study participants tested positive for symptoms of anxiety or depression, the researchers said. Thirty percent tested positive for burnout and around 20% reported increased substance use to cope with stress.
Participants who slept less than six hours the night before and during the middle of the pandemic had a higher risk of anxiety, depression, and burnout. Lower sleep consistency was also associated with an increased risk of behavioral and mental health symptoms.
The findings were published April 19 in the journal sleep health.
“Our study speaks to the importance of sleep for mental health, especially in the context of stressful events,” Czeisler said. “Making an effort to prioritize sleep and developing a regular sleep schedule can offer protection during these times.”
The researchers noted that 71% of study participants were men and 77% were white, so the findings may not apply to the general US population.
The team hopes to do a follow-up study to find out if people who had mental health symptoms in June 2020 still have them, and what role they play. to sleep can influence your mental health outcomes.
SOURCE: Brigham and Women’s Hospital, news release, April 20, 2022
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