In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, a variety of social distancing measures to mitigate the virus outbreak have been implemented These measures may have unintended consequences on individuals’ well-being, such as increased stress, anxiety, and sleep disruptions We investigated the extent to which individuals’ mental health status is associated with perceived changes in sleep amount and sleep quality among a sample of adult twin pairs (N = 909 pairs;77% MZ, 23% DZ), less than a month after the outbreak was declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization About half of participants reported no change in sleep amount (50 1%) or sleep quality (55 6%) Approximately one-third of the participants had increased amount of sleep (29 8%), and 32 9% reported a decrease in sleep quality We found that stress and anxiety levels were associated with sleep reduction (ORs = 2 36 and 3 12 for stress and anxiety, respectively) and poorer sleep quality (ORs = 2 45 and 3 73 for stress and anxiety, respectively), even after taking into account between-family confounds A much smaller association was observed between levels of stress and anxiety and increased sleep amount (ORs = 1 42 and 1 60 for stress and anxiety, respectively) and sleep quality (OR = 1 21 and 1 29 for stress and anxiety, respectively), which was no longer significant after controlling for between-family confounds Our results demonstrate that stress and anxiety associated with the COVID-19 pandemic and social distancing measures may be linked to reduced sleep amount and quality
Is COVID-19 Keeping us Up at Night? Stress, Anxiety, and Sleep Among Adult Twins