Persistence of the effects of the COVID-19 lockdown on sleep: a longitudinal study

The effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on sleep have been widely documented, butlongitudinal evaluations during different phases of the “COVID-19 era” are needed to disentanglethe specific consequences of the r145estrictive measures on sleep variables. The aim of this study wasto assess the immediate effect of the lockdown’s end on sleep and sleep-related dimensions in anItalian sample, also considering the stress and depressive symptoms. We used an online survey tolongitudinally collect data on sociodemographic, environmental, clinical, sleep, and sleep-relatedvariables in two time points: during and immediately after the lockdown. The final sample included102 participants. The large prevalence of poor sleep quality, clinically relevant pre-sleep arousal, anddepressive symptoms, as well as poor sleep quality and pre-sleep arousal score observed during thelockdown, remained stable after its end. On the other hand, the prevalence of moderate-to-severeevent-related stress and intrusive symptom scores exhibited a drastic reduction after the end ofhome confinement. Both bedtime and rise time were anticipated after the lockdown, while sleepquality exhibited only a trend of post-lockdown sleep disturbance reduction. Our findings pointto a reduced stress level (specific for the intrusive symptomatology) after the end of the lockdownand persistence of sleep problems, suggesting two non-mutually exclusive hypotheses: (a) the strictrestrictive measures are not the main cause of sleep problems during the pandemic and (b) homeconfinement induces long-lasting effects on sleep observable after its end, and a longer period oftime might be needed to observe an improvement.