TY - JOUR
T1 - In-person vs home schooling during the COVID-19 pandemic
T2 - Differences in sleep, circadian timing, and mood in early adolescence
AU - Stone, Julia E
AU - Phillips, Andrew J K
AU - Chachos, Evangelos
AU - Hand, Anthony J
AU - Lu, Sinh
AU - Carskadon, Mary A
AU - Klerman, Elizabeth B
AU - Lockley, Steven W
AU - Wiley, Joshua F
AU - Bei, Bei
AU - Rajaratnam, Shantha M W
AU - for the CLASS Study Team
PY - 2021/9
Y1 - 2021/9
N2 - During the COVID-19 pandemic, schools around the world rapidly transitioned from in-person to remote learning, providing an opportunity to examine the impact of in-person vs remote learning on sleep, circadian timing, and mood. We assessed sleep-wake timing using wrist actigraphy and sleep diaries over 1-2 weeks during in-person learning (n = 28) and remote learning (n = 58, where n = 27 were repeat assessments) in adolescents (age M ± SD = 12.79 ± 0.42 years). Circadian timing was measured under a single condition in each individual using salivary melatonin (Dim Light Melatonin Onset; DLMO). Online surveys assessed mood (PROMIS Pediatric Anxiety and Depressive Symptoms) and sleepiness (Epworth Sleepiness Scale – Child and Adolescent) in each condition. During remote (vs in-person) learning: (i) on school days, students went to sleep 26 minutes later and woke 49 minutes later, resulting in 22 minutes longer sleep duration (all P <.0001); (ii) DLMO time did not differ significantly between conditions, although participants woke at a later circadian phase (43 minutes, P =.03) during remote learning; and (iii) participants reported significantly lower sleepiness (P =.048) and lower anxiety symptoms (P =.006). Depressive symptoms did not differ between conditions. Changes in mood symptoms were not mediated by sleep. Although remote learning continued to have fixed school start times, removing morning commutes likely enabled adolescents to sleep longer, wake later, and to wake at a later circadian phase. These results indicate that remote learning, or later school start times, may extend sleep and improve some subjective symptoms in adolescents.
AB - During the COVID-19 pandemic, schools around the world rapidly transitioned from in-person to remote learning, providing an opportunity to examine the impact of in-person vs remote learning on sleep, circadian timing, and mood. We assessed sleep-wake timing using wrist actigraphy and sleep diaries over 1-2 weeks during in-person learning (n = 28) and remote learning (n = 58, where n = 27 were repeat assessments) in adolescents (age M ± SD = 12.79 ± 0.42 years). Circadian timing was measured under a single condition in each individual using salivary melatonin (Dim Light Melatonin Onset; DLMO). Online surveys assessed mood (PROMIS Pediatric Anxiety and Depressive Symptoms) and sleepiness (Epworth Sleepiness Scale – Child and Adolescent) in each condition. During remote (vs in-person) learning: (i) on school days, students went to sleep 26 minutes later and woke 49 minutes later, resulting in 22 minutes longer sleep duration (all P <.0001); (ii) DLMO time did not differ significantly between conditions, although participants woke at a later circadian phase (43 minutes, P =.03) during remote learning; and (iii) participants reported significantly lower sleepiness (P =.048) and lower anxiety symptoms (P =.006). Depressive symptoms did not differ between conditions. Changes in mood symptoms were not mediated by sleep. Although remote learning continued to have fixed school start times, removing morning commutes likely enabled adolescents to sleep longer, wake later, and to wake at a later circadian phase. These results indicate that remote learning, or later school start times, may extend sleep and improve some subjective symptoms in adolescents.
KW - adolescence
KW - circadian rhythms
KW - COVID-19
KW - melatonin
KW - remote learning
KW - school start times
KW - sleep
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85112651664&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://purl.org/au-research/grants/ARC/DP190103444
U2 - 10.1111/jpi.12757
DO - 10.1111/jpi.12757
M3 - Article
C2 - 34273194
AN - SCOPUS:85112651664
SN - 0742-3098
VL - 71
JO - Journal of Pineal Research
JF - Journal of Pineal Research
IS - 2
M1 - e12757
ER -