0410 Daily Shifts in Spiritual and Social Connection Are Associated with Nigh-to-Night Changes in Sleep in Young Adults

Introduction Feeling connected, both spiritually and socially, contributes to positive health outcomes. In contrast, loneliness, the absence of social connection, is negatively associated with healthy sleep outcomes. Spiritual connection encompasses relationships with oneself, others, a higher power, or nature. The depth of these connections depends on self-awareness and soul-searching, shaping the level of intimacy but these internal feelings about personal spiritual connection are often overlooked.. This study examines the daily associations of feelings of spiritual and social connection with nightly sleep features in young adults (M=23+/-4 years of age). Methods This study included individuals with autism (n=33), social anxiety (n=28), and no diagnoses (n=33) Participants completed evening and morning diaries for 9 months while concurrently wearing an actigraph. The evening diary asked about daytime feelings of spiritual and social (digital and in-person) connection. Sleep diary measures included sleep onset latency, wake after sleep onset, total sleep time, and sleep efficiency. Multilevel linear modeling was used to explore daily/nightly associations between spiritual and social connection and sleep variables. Results Higher spiritual connection was associated with shorter sleep onset latency and (p=0.007) greater total sleep time (p=0.010), measured by sleep diary. Higher in-person social connection was associated with shorter total sleep time (p=0.010), measured by actigraphy. Higher digital social connection was associated with lower sleep efficiency (p=0.005), measured by actigraphy and lower self-reported wake after sleep onset (p=0.002). All other findings examining the daily/nightly associations between connection indexes and sleep variables were non-significant. Conclusion This study underscores the importance of considering internal spiritual connections alongside traditional measures of connection. As higher spiritual connection was associated with perceptions of sleep improvements (whereas in-person connection as associated with behavioral observations of sleep), spiritual connection could be a particularly salient intervention target for young adults with insomnia with sleep-state misperception. Digital social connection, however, revealed potential drawbacks, which highlights that even in the presence of connection using digital devices, electronic use may be deleterious to sleep. Support (if any)