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Sunday, February 28, 2021

Study of sleep pattern during lockdown

Global pandemic has caused sudden change in the daily routine. Along with all the zeitgebers of the body’s clock, social zeitegeber is also tightly linked with regulation of sleep cycle. Since COVID-19 restrictions compelled people to waive the social obligations, which were linked to various events like school, offices, and meals. It provided us with an opportunity to compare the social pressure on the daily schedule and its impact on sleep regulation. The comparison in the sleep times before and after the imposed restrictions was calculated by calculating Social Jet Lag (SJL). SJL is the difference between the sleep duration in work day and free days. The data was collected from the residents of Pune city using an online Google form. The concept of the form was based on the Global ChronoCorono Survey (GCCS) by T. Roenneberg et al. The questionnaire consisted of 47 questions related to sleep, meal, activity, and sunlight exposure time. A total of 151 participants participated in the survey during the period of May and June 2020. Sleep debt was calculated by calculating the difference between the sleep duration in free days and work days (SLDf- SLDw). Social Jet Lag was calculated by using the corrected formula (Jankowski, 2017). The results explicitly show reduction of social jet lag and sleep debt. It was observed that there was higher social jet lag before lock down in homemakers and students, indicating the need for awareness about the importance of lifestyle preferences.