Intra-individual impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on mental health and sleep in young adults

Effects of the COVID-19 Pandemic on University Students' Mental Health: A Literature Review

This review aims to focus on the effects of COVID-19 on university students' mental health and deepen our understanding of it. The conclusions are based on the review of 32 studies conducted during the pandemic. This review confirms that university students were at high risk for mental health disorders, heightened stress, and increased sleep comorbidities both pre-pandemic and during the pandemic. This literature review confirmed a few universal trends, i.e., increased stress, anxiety, and depression, during the pandemic. The rates of insomnia, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and suicidal ideation also went up. Overall, female students are at a disadvantage in the development of mental health issues. Male students coped better but may be at higher risk for lethality in suicidal ideation. Students with a history of mental health issues and other comorbidities prior to the pandemic had worse outcomes compared to healthy individuals. The study points to a strong positive correlation between fear and increased rates of stress, anxiety, and insomnia. There is also a positive correlation between declining mental health and online learning. A strong negative correlation was present between physical activity and depressive symptoms. These findings are universal across many countries and regions where the studies occurred.

The Mediating Role of Sleep Quality in the Relationship between Negative Emotional States and Health-Related Quality of Life among Italian Medical Students

Sleep problems have been shown to be related to adverse outcomes concerning physical and mental well-being. Furthermore, mental health issues and sleep problems were reported to be highly prevalent among medical students and physicians, and were found to be associated with worse academic and clinical performance in these populations. This study aims to investigate the prevalence of poor sleep to examine the associations between sleep quality and health-related quality of life (HRQoL), and to explore the possible mediating role of sleep in the relationship between psychological distress and HRQoL itself in a sample of medical and dental students attending a large Italian university. Participants (n = 407, mean age: 24.2 ± 2.4) answered an online questionnaire comprising the 21-item Depression Anxiety Stress Scale, the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index, and the Short Form-12 health survey. Up to 62% of the participants reported poor sleep quality. Controlling for psychological distress, sleep quality components were found to be associated with physical and mental HRQoL. Mediation analysis showed that overall sleep quality mediated all the single associations between anxiety, depression, and stress and HRQoL. These preliminary findings suggest that the quality of sleep is important for the well-being of medical students and that targeting sleep issues in this academic population may be beneficial.