COVID-19-related mobility reduction: heterogenous effects on sleep and physical activity rhythms

Mobility restrictions imposed to suppress transmission of COVID-19 can alter physical activity (PA) and sleep patterns that are important for health and well-being. Characterization of response heterogeneity and their underlying associations may assist in stratifying the health impact of the pandemic.

We obtained wearable data covering baseline, incremental mobility restriction, and lockdown periods from 1,824 city-dwelling, working adults aged 21-40 years, incorporating 206,381 nights of sleep and 334,038 days of PA. Distinct rest-activity rhythm (RAR) profiles were identified using k-means clustering, indicating participants' temporal distribution of step counts over the day. Hierarchical clustering of the proportion of days spent in each of these RAR profiles revealed four groups who expressed different mixtures of RAR profiles before and during the lockdown.

Time in bed increased by 20 min during the lockdown without loss of sleep efficiency, while social jetlag measures decreased by 15 min. Resting heart rate declined by ~2 bpm. PA dropped an average of 42%. Four groups with different compositions of RAR profiles were found. Three were better able to maintain PA and weekday/weekend differentiation during lockdown. The least active group comprising ~51% of the sample, were younger and predominantly singles. Habitually less active already, this group showed the greatest reduction in PA during lockdown with little weekday/weekend differences.

In the early aftermath of COVID-19 mobility restriction, PA appears to be more severely affected than sleep. RAR evaluation uncovered heterogeneity of responses to lockdown that could associate with different outcomes should the resolution of COVID-19 be protracted.