A Naturalistic Actigraphic Assessment of Changes in Adolescent Sleep, Light Exposure, and Activity Before and During COVID-19

Abstract

The majority of high school–aged adolescents obtain less than the recommended amount of sleep per night, in part because of imposed early school start times. Utilizing a naturalistic design, the present study evaluated changes in objective measurements of sleep, light, and physical activity before (baseline) and during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic (during COVID-19) in a group of US adolescents. Sixteen adolescents (aged 15.9 ± 1.2 years, 68.8% female) wore an actigraphy monitor for 7 consecutive days during an in-person week of school before the pandemic (October 2018-February 2020) and again during the pandemic when instruction was performed virtually (May 2020). Delayed weekday sleep onset times of 1.66 ± 1.33 h ( p < 0.001) and increased sleep duration of 1 ± 0.87 h ( p < 0.001) were observed during COVID-19 compared with baseline. Average lux was significantly higher during COVID-19 compared with baseline ( p < 0.001). Weekday physical activity parameters were not altered during COVID-19 compared with baseline, except for a delay in the midpoint of the least active 5 h ( p value = 0.044). This analysis provides insight into how introducing flexibility into the traditional school schedule might influence sleep in adolescents.