INCREASED SEDENTARY BEHAVIOUR AS A RISK FACTOR FOR IMPAIRED SLEEP QUALITY AND AGGRAVATION OF PHYSICAL SYMPTOMS DURING COVID-19 LOCKDOWN

Objectives. Due to COVID-19 restrictions all classes were transitioned online, resulting in more than a 1,5 year-long home confinement. Such changes could disturb both mental and physical health. The aim of this study was to assess the association between sedentary behaviour, sleep quality and exacerbation of physical symptoms among Latvian healthcare students both before and during lockdown.
Materials and methods. A retrospective pre-post study among the population of healthcare students from Riga Stradiņš University and University of Latvia was conducted using online questionnaire in March- April 2021. Data was analysed using SPSS- Spearman’s rank correlation test; Kruskall Wallis test, Mann Whitney U test.
Results. 208 healthcare students completed the survey. Mean age of respondents was 22.6 years (SD=2.8) and most of them were females 65.4% (n=136). Our results show increase in daily sitting time: students spent 8.2 hours sitting (SD=3.4) during lockdown, instead of 5.6 hours (SD= 0.6) before pandemic. There is also an increase in sleep latency to 24.5 minutes (SD= 29.7) when compared to pre-pandemic 13.5 minutes (SD=12.9). A positive correlation was found between increased sitting time and difficulties falling asleep in 30 minutes time.
Conclusions. Results of our study imply that increased sitting time during lockdown has negative effects on students’ sleep quality, including sleep latency, insomnias and nightmares, as well as on physical wellbeing.