Effects of COVID-19 pandemic and lockdown on lifestyle and mental health of students: A retrospective study from Karachi, Pakistan.

Introduction: Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, many countries imposed lockdowns on their citizens in an attempt to contain the disease. Pakistan is one of these countries. A government mandated lockdown can have mitigating psychological effects on young adults, out of which a large fraction is made up of students. This study aims to investigate the correlations between changes in sleep pattern, perception of time, and digital media usage. Furthermore, it explores the impact of these changes on the mental health of students of different educational levels. Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted via a web-based questionnaire, from March 24 to April 26, 2020. The survey was targeted at students and 251 responses were obtained. It was a 5-section long questionnaire. The first section inquired about demographics of participants. Each of the other 4 sections was devoted to changes in sleep pattern, perception of time flow, digital media usage and mental health status of students. Close-ended questions with multiple choice responses, dichotomous, interval and 4-point Likert scales were used in the construction of the survey questionnaire. Chi Results: Out of 251 adolescents that participated in our study, the majority (70.2%) were females. The mean age of the participants was 19.40 ± 1.62 years. Two-thirds of the respondents did not have much trouble falling asleep (66.5%). The analysis found no significant association between longer sleep periods and procrastination level ( Conclusions: Our research has revealed that due to the lockdown imposed by the government in response to COVID-19, the sleeping patterns of the students was affected the most. Our findings show that the increase in use of social media applications led to a widespread increase in the length of sleep, worsening of sleep habits (people sleeping at much later hours than usual), and a general feeling of tiredness. A general lack of recollection regarding what day of the week it was, as well as a change in the perceived flow of time were also notable. All these findings indicate the decline in mental health of students due to the lockdown. Promoting better sleep routines, minimising the use of digital media, and encouragement of students to take up more hobbies could collectively improve the health and mood of students in self-quarantine.