Altered sleep duration and poor quality of sleep among pharmacy students
amidst COVID-19 Lockdown: A South-Indian study
Abstract
Introduction/Background: The nationwide lockdown enforced due to the
devastating effect of the coronavirus disease -2019 had a definite
impact on sleep health. Objective: To look out for any change in the
duration, pattern and quality of sleep among pharmacy students that can
be attributed to the lockdown. Methods: A google form-based
cross-sectional and descriptive study was carried out after approval was
obtained from the institutional ethics committee in the month of July
2021 among 310 pharmacy students. The validated form was electronically
administered after obtaining the volunteer informed consent. All the
data pertaining to duration, pattern and quality of sleep before and
during the lockdown was collected and analysed using STATA version 16.0.
Results and Discussion: Out of the total 310 participants, majority of
the respondents were females 242 (78.06%). The study revealed an
increase in the time needed to fall asleep (p-value<0.001) and
in the total duration of sleep (p-value<0.001). A delay in the
time of sleep in the morning (p-value<0.001) and at night
(p-value<0.001) was also one among the many significant
results. Well known reasons or consequences of disturbed sleep such as
jerky leg movements (p-value<0.001), snoring
(p-value<0.001), frequent nightmares (p-value<0.001)
and anxiety (p-value<0.001) were also increased as a direct
effect of the lockdown. Conclusion: The study has been able to establish
the incidence of significant disturbances in the sleep architecture of
pharmacy students due to the lockdown.