Sleep Health Among Adolescents and Adults During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Introduction to the Special Issue

As I write the introduction for this special issue, it is nearly two years to the date when our lives changed in previously unimaginable ways as the world was hit by the 2019 novel coronavirus (i.e., COVID-19). Right now, many of us are even preparing to attend our first in-person conference, the World Sleep Society meeting – in Rome, Italy, no less! It is poignant and exciting (and if I’m honest, a little anxiety-provoking) to prepare for this trip, while reminded of the devastating images we witnessed on television in early 2020, as Italy went into its pandemic-related lockdown. Never did I imagine that two years in, we would still be living under the veil of the pandemic, though recent trends in case counts and increasing vaccine rates (in many countries; “Coronavirus World Map: Tracking the Global Outbreak, 2022) may give us all reason to be hopeful. Over the past two years, we have endured and adapted to the challenges of pandemic living – from far too many Zoom calls, to finding creative ways to get work done while simultaneously managing children and households, and trying to maintain some semblance of normalcy even when the world felt turned upside down. And through it all, our sleep colleagues, clinicians and researchers have continued to do the critical and pressing work to better understand and treat sleep problems that have emerged in the wake of the pandemic. That alone, gives me hope – to be surrounded by steadfast colleagues who persevered in conducting important work and addressing the critical public health problem of poor sleep health during these unprecedented times. It is, therefore, my honor and pleasure to guest edit this special issue, which highlights some of the impressive research on sleep health during the pandemic, conducted by our Behavioral Sleep Medicine colleagues. The articles featured herein focus on a variety of populations both in the U.S. and abroad (Dal Santo et al., 2021), from adolescents (Potvin et al., 2022; Troxel et al., 2022) to older adults (Chin et al., 2022), and some focused on specific vulnerable populations, including adolescents with Type 1 diabetes (Griggs et al., 2022), American Indian/ Alaska Native youth (Troxel et al., 2022) and sexual and gender minority young adults (Tucker et al., 2022). Of note, many of the studies collected data in the first few months of the COVID-19 outbreak, which is a testament to our field’s recognition of the potential for the pandemic to have a profound impact on sleep, and the rapid deployment of data collection strategies (administered remotely) to better understand the growing public health problem in the midst of stay-at-home orders. The studies also utilized a range of methods, including qualitative and mixed methods approaches, which provide critical information concerning the “lived experience” of different populations during the pandemic as well as potential facilitators and barriers to sleep health during the pandemic (e.g.,(Griggs et al., 2022). Collectively, findings underscore that while increases in poor sleep quality and insomnia symptoms were prevalent during the pandemic, there was considerable heterogeneity in the effects depending on the presence of specific risk or protective factors and across population groups. For example, in terms of risk factors, Potvin and colleagues (Potvin et al., 2022) found that a later chronotype, greater usage of electronic devices, and greater caffeine and cannabis consumption during the pandemic were associated with delayed sleep timing during the pandemic in youth.