Abstract

This paper aims to assess the differences and associations of the effect of COVID-19 on sleep habits, sleep quality, and burnout symptoms among faculty members of higher education in Mexico. This was a cross-sectional study with a total sample of 214 faculty members of higher education from Mexico between May 18^th and June 10^th of 2020. We applied questionnaires containing sociodemographic and specific questions regarding sleep habits, sleep quality, and burnout symptoms. The results show that during COVID-19 faculty members delayed their bedtime and rise time. No change was found with weekdays time in bed, however, during weekends, time in bed was more than an hour shorter. Social jetlag decreased significantly during COVID-19. Furthermore, during COVID-19, those who reported low sleep quality were more likely to report higher symptoms of emotional exhaustion and those who slept less on weekends were more likely to report higher symptoms of depersonalization. These results suggest that the COVID-19 pandemic may have an effect on sleep and sleep quality and burnout symptoms of faculty members from higher education in Mexico.

Key words:
COVID-19; Sleep; Sleep quality; Burnout; Higher education

Resumo

Este trabalho visa avaliar as diferenças e associações do impacto da COVID-19 sobre hábitos de sono, qualidade do sono e sintomas de burnout entre os docentes de ensino superior no México. Trata-se de um estudo transversal, com amostra total de 214 docentes, realizado entre 18 de maio e 10 de junho de 2020. Foram aplicados questionários contendo questões sociodemográficas e específicas sobre hábitos de sono, qualidade do sono e sintomas de burnout. Os resultados mostram que durante a pandemia os docentes atrasaram a hora de dormir e acordar. Nenhuma alteração foi observada com relação ao tempo de semana na cama, porém nos finais de semana o tempo na cama era mais de uma hora menor. O jetlag social diminuiu significativamente durante a COVID-19. Além disso, durante a pandemia, aqueles que relataram baixa qualidade do sono eram mais propensos a relatar sintomas mais fortes de exaustão emocional, e aqueles que dormiam menos nos fins de semana eram mais propensos a relatar sintomas mais fortes de despersonalização. Esses resultados sugerem que a pandemia de COVID-19 pode ter um efeito sobre a qualidade do sono e causar sintomas de burnout nos integrantes do corpo docente do ensino superior no México.

Palavras-chave:
COVID-19; Dormir; Esgotamento; Ensino superior

Introduction

In December 2019, an outbreak of SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) was reported in Wuhan, China¹1 Xu Z, Shi L, Wang Y, Zhang J, Huang L, Zhang C, Liu S, Zhao P, Liu H, Zhu L, Tai Y, Bai C, Gao T, Song J, Xia P, Dong J, Zhao J, Wang F-S. Pathological findings of COVID-19 associated with acute respiratory distress syndrome. Lancet Respir Med 2020; 8(4):420-4202.. By March 11, 2020, it quickly spread worldwide and was classified as a pandemic by the World Health Organization (WHO)²2 Word Health Organization (WHO). WHO Director-Generals opening remarks at the media briefing on COVID-19 [Internet]. 2020. [cited 2021 fev 8]. Available from: https://www.who.int/director-general/speeches/detail/who-director-general-s-opening-remarks-at-the-media-briefing-on-covid-19---11-march-2020
https://www.who.int/director-general/spe... . Since then, the global pandemic has had a great impact on public health, economy, and social life of individuals across the world. Public policymakers and governments around the world have implemented several policies to prevent further contagion. While these policies differ in each country based on the circumstances, the full or partial lockdown (i.e., home confinement) has become a common practice in most countries. The lockdown is a measure to mitigate disease outbreaks and to protect the physical well-being of the individuals. However, recent research has shown that life in isolation has had a profound impact on the mental well-being of people under confienmentt³3 Erren TC, Lewis P, Shaw DM. COVID-19 and "natural" experiments arising from physical distancing: a hypothetical case study from chronobiology. Chronobiol Int 2020; 37(7):1115-1117.^,44 Wang C, Pan R, Wan X, Tan Y, Xu L, Ho CS, Ho RC. Immediate psychological responses and associated factors during the initial stage of the 2019 coronavirus disease (COVID-19) epidemic among the general population in China. Int J Environ Res Public Health 2020; 17(5):1729.. Furthermore, social isolation prevented regular contact with family members, friends, and other social circles including schools or work environments. This situation introduced consequences to mental health including feeling loneliness, anxiety, and depression⁵5 Zhou X, Snoswell CL, Harding LE, Bambling M, Edirippulige S, Bai X, Smith AC. The role of telehealth in reducing the mental burden from COVID-19. Telemedicine E-Health 2020; 26(4):377-379.. Because most of the labor work is now carried out at home, the new work scheme generates greater computer-screen exposure which, in turn, may alter and compromise sleep patterns, physical activity, and mental well-being⁶6 Majumdar P, Biswas A, Sahu S. COVID-19 pandemic and lockdown: cause of sleep disruption, depression, somatic pain, and increased screen exposure of office workers and students of India. Chronobiol Int 2020; 37(8):1191-1200..

Among different sectors across the globe, the educational system is one of the affected sectors by the worldwide lockdown. The pandemic circumstances have led 862 million children and young people around the world outside their routines, which marks roughly half the global student population⁷7 Vinner RM, Russell SJ, Croker H, Packer J, Ward J, Stansfield C, Mytton O, Bonell C, Booy R. School closure and management practices during coronavirus outbreaks including COVID-19: a rapid systematic review. Lancet Child Adolesc Health 2020; 4(5):397-404.. This was estimated based on the data collected on safety measures that were taken to interrupt the transmission of influenza virus⁸8 Jackson C, Vynnycky E, Mangtani P. The relationship between school holidays and transmission of influenza in England and Wales. Am J Epidemiol 2016; 184(9):644-651.. School closure due to the COVID-19 pandemic modified the educational system overnight. Teachers across educational spectra had to change the way they taught their classes and delivered the content of their courses. Moving from face-to-face to a completely online model has become a new reality for millions of educators around the world. This situation created a new set of challenges for university professors and high school teachers while increasing the risk of mental health consequences due to the lockdown⁹9 Hagerty SL, Williams LM. The impact of COVID-19 on mental health: the interactive roles of brain biotypes and human connection. Brain Behav Immun 2020; 5:100078.. Even in the pre-COVID-19 period, faculty members of higher education had multiple academic challenges to deal with including extensive workload, excess activities are undertaken in and outside working hours, student misbehavior, interactions with colleagues, and pressures to increase productivity and performance which are known as the existing contributing factors to a sharp increase in stress levels¹⁰10 Turktorun YZ, Weiher GM, Horz H. Psychological detachment and work-related rumination in teachers: a systematic review. Edu Res Rev 2020; 31:100354.. As a result, many faculty members experience burnout symptoms, leading to emotional exhaustion, reduced teaching efficacy, and decreased job satisfaction¹¹11 Watts J, Robertson N. Burnout in university teaching staff: a systematic literature review. Edu Res 2011; 53(1):33-50.. In specific, the quality of sleep was affected by these stressors which had led to sleep disturbances¹²12 Carvalho Freitas AM, Araujo TM, Fischer FM. Psychosocial aspects at work and the quality of sleep of professors in higher education. Arch Environ Occup Health 2020; 75(5):297-306.^,1313 Huyghebaert T, Gillet N, Beltou N, Tellier F, Fouquereau E. Effects of workload on teachers functioning: a moderated mediation model including sleeping problems and overcommitment. Stress Health 2018; 34(5):601-611..

Burnout is defined as a psychological syndrome caused by a prolonged response to interpersonal stressors, mainly in relation to the work environment¹⁴14 Maslach C, Leiter MP. Understanding the burnout experience: recent research and its implication for psychiatry. World Psychiatry 2016; 15(2):103-111.. It includes three main dimensions: emotional exhaustion (i.e., wearing out, debilitation and fatigue), depersonalization (i.e., negative attitudes towards clients, irritability, and loss of idealism), and inefficiency characterized by reduced personal accomplishment (i.e., decreased productivity, poor morale, and inability to cope with stressors)¹⁴14 Maslach C, Leiter MP. Understanding the burnout experience: recent research and its implication for psychiatry. World Psychiatry 2016; 15(2):103-111.. In the literature, burnout has been associated with a wide range of mental health, and well-being alterations such as increased anxiety, depression, sleep problems, alcohol consumption, impaired memory, and neck and back pain¹⁵15 Peterson U, Demerouti E, Bergstrom G, Samuelsson M, Asberg M, Nygren A. Burnout and physical and mental health among Swedish healthcare workers. J Adv Nurs 2008; 62(1):84-85.. It is also associated to lower motivation and productivity¹⁶16 Dugani S, Afari H, Hirschhorn LR, Ratcliffe H, Veillard J, Martin G, Lagomarsino G, Basu L, Bitton A. Prevalence and factors associated with burnout among frontline primary health care providers in low-and middle-income countries: a systematic review. Gates Open Res 2018; 2:4-29., job dissatisfaction¹⁷17 Maslach C, Schaufeli WB, Leiter MP. Job burnout. Annu Rev Psychol 2001; 52:397-422., sick leave, and mental and behavioral disorders¹⁸18 Toppinen-Tanner S, Ojajarvi A, Vaanaanen A, Kalimo R, Jappinen P. Burnout as a predictor of medically certified sick-leave absences and their diagnosed causes. Behav Med 2005; 31(1):18-32.. Recent studies on burnout in relation to COVID-19, chiefly conducted on healthcare professionals, suggest that due to the nature of the pandemic, medical doctors and nurses experience higher numbers of mental health problems and burnout¹⁹19 Morgantini LA, Naha U, Wang H, Francavilla S, Acar O, Flores JM, Crivellaro S, Moreira D, Abern M, Eklud M Vigneswaran HT, Weine SM. Factors contributing to healthcare professional burnout during the COVID-19 pandemic: a rapid turnaround global survey. PLoS One 2020; 15(9):e0238217.^,2020 Elhadi M, Msherghi A, Elgzairi M, Alhashimi A, Bouhuwaish A, Biala M, Abuelmeda S, Khel S, Khaled A, Alsoufi A, Elmabrouk A, Alshiteewi FB, Hamed TB, Alhadi B, Alhaddad S, Elhadi A, Zaid A. Burnout syndrome among hospital healthcare workers during the COVID-19 pandemic and civil war: a cross-sectional study. Front Psychiatry 2020; 11:579563..

Sleep, in particular, plays an important biological function in the recovery of physical and mental fatigue. In addition, with the lockdown imposed during the COVID-19 pandemic, the importance of a good night’s sleep (consisting of sleep duration, quality, and timing) has become more relevant. Current studies related to the COVID-19 pandemic suggest a radical change in behavioral sleep habits²¹21 Gao C, Scullin MK. Sleep health early in the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak in the United States: integrating longitudinal, cross-sectional, and retrospective recall data. Sleep Med 2020; 73:1-10.

22 Staller N, Randler C. Changes in sleep schedule and chronotype due to COVID-19 restrictions and home office. Somnologie 2020; 25(2):131-137.

23 Gualano MR, Moro GL, Voglino G, Bert F, Siliquini R. Effects of Covid-19 lockdown on mental health and sleep disturbances in Italy. Int J Environ Res Public Health 2020; 17(13):4779.^-2424 Marelli S, Castelnuovo A, Somma A, Castronovo V, Mombelli S, Bottoni D, Leitner C, Fossati A, Ferini-Strambi L. Impact of COVID-19 lockdown on sleep quality in university students and administration staff. J Neurol 2021; 268(1):8-15.. Certain individuals benefited from this change as their sleep health has improved due to the relaxation of work/school schedules and early morning commitments. For others, however, these changes have detrimentally impacted their sleep health, especially their sleep quality²¹21 Gao C, Scullin MK. Sleep health early in the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak in the United States: integrating longitudinal, cross-sectional, and retrospective recall data. Sleep Med 2020; 73:1-10.

22 Staller N, Randler C. Changes in sleep schedule and chronotype due to COVID-19 restrictions and home office. Somnologie 2020; 25(2):131-137.

23 Gualano MR, Moro GL, Voglino G, Bert F, Siliquini R. Effects of Covid-19 lockdown on mental health and sleep disturbances in Italy. Int J Environ Res Public Health 2020; 17(13):4779.^-2424 Marelli S, Castelnuovo A, Somma A, Castronovo V, Mombelli S, Bottoni D, Leitner C, Fossati A, Ferini-Strambi L. Impact of COVID-19 lockdown on sleep quality in university students and administration staff. J Neurol 2021; 268(1):8-15.. To date, however, no study has focused on the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on sleep habits, sleep quality, and burnout symptoms among faculty members of higher education. Therefore, the main objective of this work was to assess the differences and associations of the effect of COVID-19 on sleep habits, sleep quality, and burnout symptoms among faculty members of higher education in Mexico. We hypothesized that the change in the sleep patterns of faculty members is in line with their biological needs and health. Furthermore, our second hypothesis was that due to the positive nature of these changes in their sleep patterns, faculty members will perceive no emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and professional accomplishment.

Methods

Participants and procedure

This was a cross-sectional study and participants from different universities in Mexico were encouraged to voluntarily participate in the research via a web-based platform called Qualtrics and distributed using social media sources (Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn), and via institutional sources including email and public marketing of an institutional newsletter called: Observatorio de Innovación Educativa powered by Tecnológico de Monterrey. Then each participant could distribute the link of the study among their contacts in what is known as the snowball procedure, which is a non-probabilistic method. The survey was active between May 18^th and June 10^th of 2020. A brief presentation informed the participants about the aims of the study, and an electronic informed consent was signed before starting the survey. The survey took approximately 30 min to be completed (Please see the full version of the survey in the Supplementary section). The research project was approved by the Institutional Research and Ethics Review Committee from the Office of the Vice President of Research and Technology Transfer from Tecnológico de Monterrey, and it complied with the principles of the Declaration of Helsinki for research on human subjects.

Measurements

The questionnaires contained sociodemographic questions and specific questions regarding sleep habits, sleep quality, and burnout symptoms. The sleep habits questions were the following: What time do you usually go to bed on school days?, What time do you usually go to bed on weekends?, What time do you usually get out of bed on school days?, and What time do you usually get out of bed on weekends?

Several sleep parameters were calculated based on rising time and bedtime. From these, we calculated time in bed on school days and weekends.

Social jet lag (SJL) was calculated according to the formula indicated by Wittmann et al.²⁵25 Wittmann M, Dinich J, Merrow M, Roenneberg T. Social jetlag: misalignment of biological and social time. Chronobiol Int 2006; 23(1-2):497-509. considering the absolute difference between mid-sleep on weekdays (MSW) and mid-sleep on free days/weekends (MSF): ΔMS = | MSF - MSW |. First, to calculate mid-sleep, we calculated the duration of the sleep episode on weekends and weekdays. Next, we calculated mid-sleep time on weekends and weekdays: bedtime + 1/2 of sleep duration. We used mid-sleep of self-reported time in bed, which is a proxy for mid-sleep (midpoint between sleep onset and waking), as used by Wittmann et al.²⁵25 Wittmann M, Dinich J, Merrow M, Roenneberg T. Social jetlag: misalignment of biological and social time. Chronobiol Int 2006; 23(1-2):497-509.. In addition, sleep quality was measured based on a single question: In general, how do you consider your sleep quality?, with an answer of very bad, bad, regular, good, and very good.

For the assessment of burnout symptoms, the Spanish version of the Maslach Burnout Inventory for Educators (MBI-Ed)²⁶26 Seisdedos N. MBI Inventario Burnout de Maslach: manual. Madrid: TEA; 1997.^,2727 Maslach C, Jackson SE, Leiter MP. Maslach burnout inventory manual. 3 ed. Palo Alto: CPP; 1996. was used. The questionnaire consisted of 22 items, distributed in three dimensions/subscales: (i) Emotional exhaustion, which refers to excessive psychological and emotional demands (9 items, scores ≥ 27 indicate high symptoms of burnout); (ii) Depersonalization, which refers to a tendency to view others in an excessively detached manner (5 items, scores ≥ 13 indicate high symptoms of burnout); and (iii) Professional accomplishment, which refers to a sense of competence and accomplishment (8 items, scores ≥ 37 indicate fewer symptoms of burnout). The internal consistency (Cronbach’s alpha) for this study was α = 0.77, 0.77 and 0.76, respectively. All the questionnaires were asked for an assessment of the pre-COVID-19 period and during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Statistical analysis

Descriptive analysis was conducted to generate mean values and standard deviations (mean ± SD) of each variable. The significance of multivariate mean comparisons on sleep variables, sleep quality, and burnout symptoms pre/during COVID-19 was tested by computing a paired t-test. Furthermore, three binary logistic regressions were applied to evaluate the association between the burnout dimensions (emotional exhaustion: ≥ 27 high symptoms; depersonalization: ≥ 13 high symptoms; professional accomplishment: ≥ 37 low symptoms), sleep duration, and sleep quality pre/during COVID-19.

Results

The final sample consisted of 214 faculty members of higher education from Mexico (121 male and 93 female professors). The average age of the samples was 42.66 ± 9.17 (mean ± SD), and the age range was between 25-64 years of age. Table 1 shows the sociodemographic characteristics of the study sample. Considering the participant’s pre-COVID-19 sleep habits as a baseline, the paired t-tests found significant differences during the COVID-19 pandemic. Bedtime was delayed on both weekdays and weekends (t ₂₁₃ = 11.34, p ˂ 0.001; t ₂₁₃ = 5.39, p ˂ 0.001), and rise time was also delayed on both weekdays and weekends (t ₂₁₃ = 16.30, p ˂ 0.001; t ₂₁₃ = 3.44, p ˂ 0.01). The amount of time spent in bed on weekdays did not change during the COVID-19 pandemic. However, the amount of time spent in bed on weekends was more than an hour shorter (t ₂₁₃ = 4.34, p ˂ 0.001) during the pandemic, mainly due to bedtimes that averaged 1:24 h later and rise times that averaged only 0:16 h later (Figure 1).

Figure 1
Sleep habits pre-COVID-19 and during-COVID-19, during weekdays (white bars) and weekends (grey bars) of faculty members from higher education. Mexico, May/June, 2020.

Moreover, average time in bed (t ₂₁₃ = 2.32, p ˂ 0.05), social jetlag (t ₂₁₃ = 4.65, p ˂ 0.001) and sleep quality (t ₂₁₃ = 7.96, p ˂ 0.001) decreased significantly during the COVID-19 pandemic. When considering the burnout dimensions, we observed a hike in emotional exhaustion (t ₂₁₃ = 10.30, p ˂ 0.001) and depersonalization (t ₂₁₃ = 7.77, p ˂ 0.001) during the COVID-19 pandemic which was accompanied by a decline in professional accomplishment (t ₂₁₃ = 10.25, p ˂ 0.001) (Table 2).

Lastly, three binary logistic regression was used to test the association of the burnout dimensions pre/during the COVID-19 pandemic with weekday sleep duration, weekend sleep duration, and sleep quality. The results showed no significant difference between emotional exhaustion and depersonalization before COVID-19. However, during COVID-19, those who reported low sleep quality were more likely to report higher symptoms of emotional exhaustion (Table 3). Moreover, those who slept less on weekends were more likely to report higher symptoms of depersonalization (Table 4), and those who slept more during weekdays and weekends before COVID-19 were more likely to report fewer symptoms of burnout related to professional accomplishment. No significant difference was found in professional accomplishment during COVID-19 (Table 5).

Discussion

Our study shows that the pandemic lockdown has an effect on sleep, sleep quality, and burnout symptoms of faculty members in Mexican higher education. Overall, studies conducted on the general population assessing the impact of the COVID-19 lockdown on sleep have reported later bedtimes and waking times and a lengthening of sleep duration²¹21 Gao C, Scullin MK. Sleep health early in the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak in the United States: integrating longitudinal, cross-sectional, and retrospective recall data. Sleep Med 2020; 73:1-10.^,2222 Staller N, Randler C. Changes in sleep schedule and chronotype due to COVID-19 restrictions and home office. Somnologie 2020; 25(2):131-137.^,2828 Leone MJ, Sigman M, Golombek DA. Effect of lockdown on human sleep and chornotype during the COVID-19 pandemic. Current Biol 2020; 30(16):R930-R931.^,2929 Cellini N, Canale N, Mioni G, Costa S. Changes in sleep pattern, sense of time and digital media use during COVID-19 lockdown in Italy. J Sleep Res 2020; 29(4):e13074., suggesting that individuals may have adjusted their sleep habits to their biological needs. While our findings are in line with those reports in the literature that found later sleep times, we did not find any changes in sleep duration on weekdays. Additionally, we found that weekend sleep duration shortened significantly during the lockdown, by more than an hour. To our knowledge, no other study has reported such a decrease in sleep duration during the weekends. It is known that faculty members in higher education use their time (i.e., weekends) to fulfill their work demands such as evaluating students, marking exams, writing articles, writing grants, and preparing courses, in addition to attending to their committments³⁰30 Ziker J. The long, lonely job of homo academicus: focusing the research lens on the professor's own schedule. The Blue Review 2014. [cited 2021 fev 23]. Available from: https://wayback.archive-it.org/8092/20190724180003/https://thebluereview.org/faculty-time-allocation/
https://wayback.archive-it.org/8092/2019... . However, regardless of their workload, on weekends, faculty members tend to sleep longer than the weekdays³¹31 Souza JC, Sousa IC, Belísio AS, Azevedo CVM. Sleep habits daytime sleepiness and sleep quality of high school teachers. Psychol Neurosci 2012; 5(2):257-263.^,3232 Souza JC, Oliveira MLC, Sousa IC, Azevedo CVM. Gender differences in sleep habits and quality and daytime sleepiness in elementary and high school teachers. Chronobiol Int 2017; 35(4):1-13.. This decrease in weekend sleep duration that we observed may be in part due to the complexities that the COVID-19 pandemic has imposed on social behavior, which is consequently changing health behavior. Additionally, the academic workload may have increased under the remote teaching scheme which, in turn, requires training on using technological tools and adjustment of teaching materials to conducting classes via video, while leaving less time for personal commitments or rest. These new challenges may be linked to the report of low sleep quality and the appearance of symptoms of emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and the lack of professional accomplishment during the COVID-19 pandemic that we observed in this study.

An alternative explanation for the shortening of weekend sleep during the current pandemic is that the decrease in social jetlag during the COVID-19 lockdown²²22 Staller N, Randler C. Changes in sleep schedule and chronotype due to COVID-19 restrictions and home office. Somnologie 2020; 25(2):131-137.^,2828 Leone MJ, Sigman M, Golombek DA. Effect of lockdown on human sleep and chornotype during the COVID-19 pandemic. Current Biol 2020; 30(16):R930-R931., indicating decreased variability between the timing of weekday and weekend sleep, may better meet the participants’ overall sleep needs.

The present study is the first to evaluate the association of sleep duration, sleep quality, and burnout symptoms in faculty members in higher education during the COVID-19 pandemic, thus comparable data are lacking. Existing pre-COVID-19 studies related to this topic are few. In the study of Wu et al.³³33 Wu J, Dong Y, Z X-R, He S-C, Z X-Y. Burnout in university faculty: an interaction between subjective sleep quality and the OXTRrs2268498 polymorphism. J Affect Disord 2020; 276:927-935. the authors reported that faculty members’ poor sleep quality affected the emotional exhaustion and depersonalization dimensions of burnout. Moreover, in the study of Huyghebaert et al.³⁴34 Hughebaert T, Gillet N, Beltou N, Tellier F, Fouquereau E. Effects of workload on teachers functioning: a moderated mediation model including sleeping problems and overcommitment. Stress Health 2018; 34(5):601-611. it was indicated that high-level workloads for faculty members had a positive effect on emotional exhaustion, and these were partially mediated by sleep problems. Both reports indicated that sleep quality affects the emotional exhaustion and depersonalization dimensions, contrary to what our results indicated in the pre-COVID-19 period. However, our results suggest that during the COVID-19 pandemic, reports of poor sleep quality of the faculty members were associated with the presence of emotional exhaustion, and weekend short sleep duration increased the depersonalization, which may accentuate the impact that the pandemic has had on mental and sleep health.

In summary, our study suggests that the COVID-19 pandemic has a negative effect on professors’ sleep habits and sleep quality and has enhanced interpersonal stressors. However, this study has several restrictions. First, the explorative nature of this study is one of its major limitations. While the data on sleep habits and burnout symptoms during the COVID-19 lockdown were collected simultaneously, the data concerning the prior period (pre-COVID-19) were collected in retrospect. Second, our sample was restricted to faculty members in higher education. For that reason, it is not possible to project our findings to the general educator’s population. Third, we used a web-based survey that may have led to a selection bias. The surveys were composed only of self-reported questionnaires; however, the selected tools were validated and commonly used prior to this study²⁷27 Maslach C, Jackson SE, Leiter MP. Maslach burnout inventory manual. 3 ed. Palo Alto: CPP; 1996.^,3535 Girschik J, Fritschi L, Heyworth J, Waters F. Validation of self-reported sleep against actigraphy. J Epidemiol 2012; 22(5):462-468.. Future research should explore if the level of technical knowledge of apps and computer systems can affect the productivity of faculty members and if it has an impact on their sleep habits, anxiety, stress, and fatigue levels.

Conclusion

The results of our study provide evidence on the sleep changes that faculty members of higher education have experienced due to the COVID-19 pandemic. It is recommended that higher education institutions should offer psychological support, and psycho-educational interventions on sleep to their faculty members so that they understand the importance of maintaining a regular and sufficient sleep duration, their sleep schedules, and daily routines while working remotely.

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to acknowledge the financial and technical support of Writing Lab, Institute for the Future of Education, Tecnologico de Monterrey, Mexico, in the production of this work. As well as the support of the newsletter Observatorio de Innovación Educativa from Tecnologico de Monterrey for the distribution of the surveys.

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