Lifestyle and sleep disturbances in older adults during the COVID-19 pandemic

Abstract

Lifestyle significantly influences sleep and rest patterns, especially because of the pandemic with an emphasis on older people who tend to a sedentary lifestyle being more vulnerable to contracting VOCID-19. The objectives of this article were to know the lifestyle of this age group and identify through sociodemographic data: age, gender and marital status if the elderly had good or poor sleep hygiene. An experimental, cross-sectional design was applied with a quantitative approach and correlative scope. Survey results show that 29 per cent of the general population of older adults have a healthy lifestyle while 71 per cent have a sedentary lifestyle; With regard to sleep hygiene by age, 100 per cent of persons aged 90 to 99 have poor sleep hygiene; by gender, 32.7 per cent of men have good hygiene and 67.3 per cent poor hygiene, while 38.1 per cent of women have good hygiene and 61.9 per cent poor hygiene; by marital status singles present a higher percentage of poor sleep hygiene with 70.4%. Most people have poor sleep hygiene, so it is important to maintain healthy lifestyles, manage the negative effects of the pandemic and reduce other complications that can be triggered; even without confinement healthy lifestyles are essential to enjoy a good state of health.