The coronavirus-induced lockdown has significantly affected the sleep pattern of people many taking up to over an hour to fall asleep and many having reduced sleeping time, revealed a study led by All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) Rishikesh and other major hospitals in 25 states of the country.
The study was spearheaded by the Head of Department of Psychiatry & Division of Sleep Medicine in AIIMS Rishikesh, Dr Ravi Gupta. It was based on a survey comprising a questionnaire on various aspects of sleep.
“The lockdown caused by Covid-19 pandemic affected the lives of almost every person in the country. We wanted to find out how it has also affected the sleep pattern of people for which we decided to do a study based on a survey in the public,” Dr Gupta was quoted as saying by ToI.
“Initiating the process we conducted a survey by putting the questionnaire on social media platforms with the help of the department of psychiatry in other several prominent governments and private hospitals in 25 states. The survey conducted in early May had questions related to demographic characteristics, current and previous sleep schedules, routine and working patters, insomnia, anxiety and others,” he added.
Responses from 958 people were received with some of the respondents residing in foreign countries. The study found that the percentage of people going to sleep after 11 pm increased during the lockdown.
“It was found that 48.4 per cent people used to go to sleep after 11pm before lockdown, which increased to 65.2 per cent after lockdown. Similarly, 51.6 per cent people used to go to sleep before 11pm before the lockdown, which reduced to 34.8 per cent after lockdown.”
Also, 79.4 per cent of respondents used to fall asleep in less than 30 minutes before lockdown but this figure reduced to 56.6 per cent after lockdown. “In another major finding, 3.8 per cent people used to take more than 60 minutes to fall asleep which increased to 16.99 per cent after the lockdown,” the report said.
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