0835 Impact of Daylight Saving Time Change on Parental Anxiety, Stress, and Infant Sleep Expectations

Introduction

Daylight Saving Time (DST) transitions can disrupt infant sleep routines, and lead to temporary sleep disturbances, potentially contributing to heightened stress levels for parents. This study examines the associations between DST-related stress, parental anxiety, and parental and infant sleep.

Methods

602 parents of infants aged 0-24 months (11.45±5.5) from the US were recruited,79% mothers. A week prior to the spring DST transition, parents completed the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) and the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale-3A (EPDS-3A) to assess perinatal anxiety. Additionally, they reported concerns regarding the impact of the DST change on their child's sleep (How long do you think it will take your child to adjust to the new time? How stressed are you about the impact of daylight saving on your child's sleep?). Objective infant total sleep time (TST) was measured using Nanit autovideosomnography for 7 nights prior to the DST change. Logistic regression analysis was performed with anxiety as the predictor and stress and anticipation about DST as the outcomes. Furthermore, a Wilcoxon test compared the average sleep duration of infants and parents between the anxious and non-anxious groups. An EPDS-3A score ≥5 was considered anxious. Infant age was a covariate in all analyses.

Results

Parents experiencing anxiety before DST were 1.98 times more likely (CI 1.15-2.42) to report being stressed about the DST change (p< 0.001), and were 1.66 times more likely (CI 1.15-2.42) to anticipate >3 days adjustment period for their child following DST (p=0.007) than those who did not experience anxiety. There was no significant difference in TST between infants of anxious and non-anxious parents, but non-anxious parents slept for an average of 11 minutes longer than anxious parents (p=0.017).

Conclusion

This study demonstrates that parents experiencing anxiety exhibit higher stress levels and more negative expectations regarding their infants’ sleep during the DST transition than non-anxious parents. Moreover, anxious parents reported shorter sleep durations before the DST change compared to non-anxious parents. Notably, there was no significant difference in TST between infants of the non-anxious and anxious parent groups.

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