Social Jetlag Changes During the COVID-19 Pandemic as a Predictor of Insomnia - A Multi-National Survey Study

Authors

• Luiz Eduardo Brandão, Uppsala University
• Teemu Martikainen, Uppsala University
• Ilona Merikanto, Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare
• Brigitte Holzinger, Medical University Vienna
• Charles M. Morin, Université Laval
• Colin A. Espie, University of Oxford
• Courtney J. Bolstad, Mississippi State University
• Damien Leger, Université de Paris
• Frances Chung, University of Toronto
• Giuseppe Plazzi, University of Modena and Reggio Emilia
• Yves Dauvilliers, University of Montpellier
• Kentaro Matsui, National Institute of Mental Health
• Luigi De Gennaro, Sapienza University of Rome
• Mariusz Sieminski, Medical University of Gdansk
• Michael R. Nadorff, Mississippi State University
• Ngan Yin Chan, The Chinese University of Hong Kong
• Yun Kwok Wing, The Chinese University of Hong Kong
• Sérgio Arthuro Mota-Rolim, Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte
• Yuichi Inoue, Tokyo Medical University
• Markku Partinen, Terveystalo Biobank and Research
• Christian Benedict, Uppsala University
• Bjørn Bjorvatn, University of Bergen
• Jonathan Cedernaes, Uppsala University

ORCID

Bolstad: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2297-2778

MSU Affiliation

College of Arts and Sciences; Department of Psychology

Creation Date

2026-06-30

Abstract

PURPOSE: Lifestyle and work habits have been drastically altered by restrictions due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Whether the associated changes in sleep timing modulate the risk of suffering from symptoms of insomnia, the most prevalent sleep disorder, is however incompletely understood. Here, we evaluate the association between the early pandemic-associated change in 1) the magnitude of social jetlag (SJL) - ie, the difference between sleep timing on working vs free days - and 2) symptoms of insomnia. PATIENTS AND METHODS: A total of 14,968 anonymous participants (mean age: 40 years; 64% females) responded to a standardized internet-based survey distributed across 14 countries. Using logistic multivariate regression, we examined the association between the degree of social jetlag and symptoms of insomnia, controlling for important confounders like social restriction extension, country specific COVID-19 severity and psychological distress, for example. RESULTS: In response to the pandemic, participants reported later sleep timing, especially during workdays. Most participants (46%) exhibited a reduction in their SJL, whereas 20% increased it; and 34% reported no change in SJL. Notably, we found that both increased and decreased SJL, as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, were associated with later sleep midpoint (indicating a later chronotype) as well as more recurrent and moderate-to-severe symptoms of insomnia (about 23-54% higher odds ratio than subjects with unchanged SJL). Primarily those with reduced SJL shifted their bedtimes to a later timepoint, compared with those without changes in SJL. CONCLUSION: Our findings offer important insights into how self-reported changes to the stability of sleep/wake timing, as reflected by changes in SJL, can be a critical marker of the risk of experiencing insomnia-related symptoms - even when individuals manage to reduce their social jetlag. These findings emphasize the clinical importance of analyzing sleep-wake regularity.

Publication Date

8-12-2021

Publication Title

Nature and Science of Sleep

Publisher

Taylor and Francis Group; Dove Press

First Page

1711

Last Page

1722

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License

Rights

© 2021 The Author(s)

Recommended Citation

Brandão LEM, Martikainen T, Merikanto I, Holzinger B, Morin CM, Espie CA, Bolstad CJ, Leger D, Chung F, Plazzi G, Dauvilliers Y, Matsui K, De Gennaro L, Sieminski M, Nadorff MR, Chan NY, Wing YK, Mota-Rolim SA, Inoue Y, Partinen M, Benedict C, Bjorvatn B, Cedernaes J. Social Jetlag Changes During the COVID-19 Pandemic as a Predictor of Insomnia – A Multi-National Survey Study. Nat Sci Sleep. 2021;13:1711-1722. https://doi.org/10.2147/NSS.S327365