32 Sleep quality, mental health, and circadian rhythms during COVID lockdown – results from the SleepQuest study

IntroductionBehavioural responses to COVID-19 lockdown will define the long-term impact of psychological stressors on sleep and brain health. Here, we tease apart factors that help protect against sleep disturbance. We capitalise on the unique restrictions during COVID-19 to understand how time of day of daylight exposure and outside exercise interact with chronotype and sleep quality.MethodsParticipants completed our online ‘SleepQuest’ Study between 29th April 2020- 13th May 2020 and were followed up between 5th November 2020 -2nd December 2020. The SleepQuest survey comprised a set of validated questionnaires probing sleep quality, depression, anxiety, and attitudes towards sleep alongside bespoke questions on the effect of COVID-19 lockdown on sleep, time spent outside and exercising and self-help sleep measures.Results3474 people from the UK (median age 62, range 18-91) completed the baseline data with 2781 participants followed up. Results showed sleep quality was negatively affected by the first UK lockdown restriction [mean PSQI at baseline 8.12 (2.92)] however from baseline to follow up, sleep quality improved (mean PSQI Difference=2.21; 95% CI=[2.12,2.33.]) Factors that predicted poor prolonged sleep quality were baseline sleep quality (P