Meal and Sleep Timing before and during the COVID-19 Pandemic [Elektronisk resurs] A Cross-Sectional Anonymous Survey Study from Sweden

• The COVID-19 pandemic and related restrictions, such as stay-at-home-orders, have significantly altered daily routines and lifestyles. Given their importance for metabolic health, we herein compared sleep and meal timing parameters during vs. before the COVID-19 pandemic based on subjective recall, in an anonymous Swedish survey. Among 191 adults (mean age: 47 years; 77.5% females), we show that social jetlag, i.e., the mismatch in sleep midpoint between work and free days, was reduced by about 17 min during the pandemic compared with the pre-pandemic state ( p < 0.001). Concomitantly, respondents' sleep midpoint was shifted toward morning hours during workdays ( p < 0.001). A later daily eating midpoint accompanied the shift in sleep timing ( p = 0.001). This effect was mainly driven by a later scheduled first meal ( p < 0.001). No difference in the timing of the day's last meal was found ( p = 0.814). Although our survey was limited in terms of sample size and by being cross-sectional, our results suggest that the delay in sleep timing due to the COVID-19 pandemic was accompanied by a corresponding shift in the timing of early but not late meals. 

Ämnesord

Medical and Health Sciences  (hsv)

Health Sciences  (hsv)

Public Health, Global Health, Social Medicine and Epidemiology  (hsv)

Medicin och hälsovetenskap  (hsv)

Hälsovetenskaper  (hsv)

Folkhälsovetenskap, global hälsa, socialmedicin och epidemiologi  (hsv)

Genre

government publication  (marcgt)

Indexterm och SAB-rubrik

COVID-19 pandemic

Sweden

anonymous survey

meal timing

sleep timing