key: cord-0927659-ekqu5xu7
authors: Ish, Pranav; Sharma, Himanshu
title: Altered Circadian Rhythm in COVID-19 Times-Underrecognized and Undertreated
date: 2022-03-26
journal: Sleep Vigil
DOI: 10.1007/s41782-022-00196-2
sha: 9b893c35e312252adc36b889d31021a988129ded
doc_id: 927659
cord_uid: ekqu5xu7

nan

• This is a questionnaire-based study with no polysomnography or even actigraphy done. Thus, the timing of going to sleep and getting out of bed is subjective and may be reliable; however, the total time slept cannot merely be taken as their difference. It is possible that these students may also be having sleep-onset insomnia leading to delayed sleep onset and delayed awakening. Insomnia has also been commonly observed in the COVID-19 pandemic due to anxiety, fear of infection, health of family and social isolation [2] . Increase in total bed time should be the terminology used in the questionnaire. • Such circadian rhythm shifts to later hours of going to bed and waking up are common in adolescents and is called delayed sleep phase syndrome (DSPS). Actigraphy can easily diagnose such patients and must always be carried out to avoid them being labelled as hypersomnia.

This is because treatment of DSPS can easily be carried out with the use of Melatonin.

COVID-19 has been shown to affect sleep quality and quantity due to multiple mechanisms [3] and unfortunately sleep health still remains an ignored attribute of health even in medical students, besides the community at large. Thus, it is the need of the hour to maintain sleep health which can be achieved by simple measures including regular sleep time, wake up time, dim light during sleep, bright light in day, avoid excessive napping in the day, do yoga and exercise in the day and avoid use of electronic gadgets during night [4] .

Author Contributions PI and HS were involved in Conceptualization, literature search, writing, review and editing. All authors have read and agreed to the final draft submitted.

Funding None declared.

Conflict of Interest None declared.

Altered sleep duration and poor quality of sleep among pharmacy students amidst COVID-19 lockdown: a South-Indian Study

Insomnia during COVID-19 pandemic: few points to ponder

Neurological manifestations of COVID-19: a brief review

Sleepless in COVID-19: how not to lose sleep in lockdowns. Monaldi Arch Chest Dis