Impact of Sleep Quality on the Association Between Unease and Physical Exercise During Initial Stages of COVID-19 Pandemic in India

摘要

To slow the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic, voluntary nationwide lockdowns have been implemented around the globe. One of the biggest COVID-19 initial lockdowns was enforced in India on March 25th, 2020 and lasted for 21 days. Although published data during the COVID-19 pandemic are currently lacking from India, there have been recent suggestions that the impact of this pandemic may vary across demographic (eg, age, sex and marital status) differences.1,2 The COVID-19 pandemic and the associated lockdowns have caused unease and a negative impact on people’s sleep and routine physical activities.3,4 Moreover, feelings of stress and poor sleep quality are both associated with reductions in physical activity.5,6 To our knowledge, no work has examined the extent to which sleep quality mediates the association between self-perceptions of stress and level of physical activity during this pandemic. The current study aims to determine (i) potential relationships between the individual’s current unease and sleep quality, specifically during the COVID-19 lockdown, and demographical parameters; and (ii) the extent to which sleep quality mediates the association between the individual’s unease and level of physical exercise during the pandemic lockdown. A web-survey (N = 391; age: 43.22% aged 19 to 29 years, 27.37% aged 30 to 35 years, 15.35% aged 36 to 41 years, and 14.07% older than 41 years; sex: 53.45% females; marital status: 53.96% married) was conducted during the initial 21 days of the pandemic lockdown in India. The details about the study and the survey link were openly shared on several social media platforms targeting current Indian nationals residing in India. Two self-report questionnaires were designed to quantify participants’ unease (Cronbach’s alpha = 0.78) and sleep quality (Cronbach’s alpha = 0.63) during the COVID-19 lockdown. Detailed statements/questions included in these questionnaires are summarized in Table 1. Participants were also asked if they were exercising more to stay fit during the lockdown. Any current Indian resident aged 19 years or older was eligible for the study. Online consent was obtained from all participants. Participation was completely voluntary, and participants were not paid for their time. All procedures followed were in accordance with the ethical standards of the Boys Town National Research Hospital (BTNRH) on human experimentation and with the Helsinki Declaration of 1975, as revised in 2000. The study was approved by the IRB at BTNRH (IRB protocol # 20–04-X).