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The experience and views of men who have become stay-at-home fathers has been an area of research that has, only in recent decades, become popular to study. This study highlights that there is a dearth of literature from an Irish perspective and that little is known about the topic.Internationally, research has shown that there appears to be a strong link between masculine identity and the realm of paid employment. It also shows that fathers struggle in their attempts to balance being involved fathers while maintaining a foothold in paid employment.The literature highlights that stay-at-home fathers begin to break down traditional notions that the domestic sphere is solely the domain of women. Findings from semi-structured interviews are presented and discussed showing that the experiences of stay-at-home fathers have a dramatic impact on fathers’ emotions. It also highlighted that, although the fathers felt them being at home was extremely beneficial to the father/child relationship, they had a strong desire to return to paid employment. Stay-at-home fathers appear to struggle with arenegotiation of their role within their family with many having had little experience of ‘caring’ tasks prior to this time. Recommendations are presented in view of the current research and the findings of this study.The experience and views of men who have become stay-at-home fathers has been an area ofresearch that has, only in recent decades, become popular to study. This study highlights that there is a dearth of literature from an Irish perspective and that little is known about the topic.Internationally, research has shown that there appears to be a strong link between masculine identity and the realm of paid employment. It also shows that fathers struggle in their attempts to balance being involved fathers while maintaining a foothold in paid employment.The literature highlights that stay-at-home fathers begin to break down traditional notions that the domestic sphere is solely the domain of women. Findings from semi-structured interviews are presented and discussed showing that the experiences of stay-at-home fathers have a dramatic impact on fathers’ emotions. It also highlighted that, although the fathers felt them being at home was extremely beneficial to the father/child relationship, they had a strong desire to return to paid employment. Stay-at-home fathers appear to struggle with arenegotiation of their role within their family with many having had little experience of ‘caring’ tasks prior to this time. Recommendations are presented in view of the current research and the findings of this study.

Objective The anxiety-related insomnia and other sleep disorders were mentioned as possible side effects of quarantine and stay-at-home conditions. The questions to be explored were: Are there discernable differences in hours of sleep and sleep habits between the normal operational environment and the stay-at-home condition? and How seriously anxiety-induced insomnia or other sleep disorders may affect individuals during the stay-at-home? Methods This international prospective study analyzed results from the sleep-wake patterns questionnaire, daily logs, and interviews. During COVID-19 pandemic, surveys were administered to the healthy volunteers with stay-at-home for 14 days or more, without previous sleep disorders; volunteers were not involved in online education/work daily timetable-related activities. Results We analyzed 14,000 subjects from 11 countries with average stay-at-home of 62 days. The most significant changes in sleep occurred during the first 14 days of stay-at-home. The difference in the sleep duration between weekdays and weekends disappeared. Most of the participants discontinued using alarm clocks. The total sleep time increased in duration up to 9:10 ± 1:16 to the end of the quarantine/stay-at-home (+1:34, p = 0.02). The age-dependent changes in napping habits occurred. Only 1.8% of participants indicated insomnia during the first 14-day period with a decline to 0.5% after two months of stay-at-home. Conclusion During the stay-at-home situation, both duration and timing of sleep significantly differ from those of daily routine and most humans sleep longer than in a schedule-dependent operational environment. An appearance of anxiety-induced insomnia is extremely rare if a healthy individual is already in the stay-at-home situation., Highlights • Sleep disorders were mentioned as possible side effects of quarantine/stay-at-home. • We surveyed 14,000 subjects from 11 countries with average stay-at-home of 62 days. • Most of the participants discontinued using alarm clocks. • Insomnia was detected in 0.5% of participants after two months of stay-at-home. • The sleep time increased up to 9:10 to the end of the stay-at-home (+1:34, p = 0.02).

Background The coronavirus pandemic presented a unique opportunity to study the daily temporal patterns and sleep habits of humans. The question to be explored was: Are there discernible differences in sleep between the normal operational environment and the stay-at-home condition? Methods This international prospective study analyzed results from the sleep-wake patterns questionnaire, daily logs, and interviews. Surveys were administered to the healthy volunteers (age 15–60 y) with stay-at-home for a month or more, without previous sleep disorders and mood-related complaints; volunteers were not involved in online education/work daily timetable-related activities. Results We analyzed 3787 subjects with average stay-at-home of 65 ± 9 days. The most significant changes in sleep occurred during the first ten days when the difference between weekdays and weekends disappeared and changes occurred in napping habits. The majority of the participants (66.8%) shifted toward eveningness when the self-selected sleep was possible and 1869 volunteers appeared to be owls (49.4%), 823 (21.7%) exercised “typical” sleep, 478 (12.6%) were larks, and 617 (16.3%) participants were completely desynchronized to the end of stay-at-home. In addition, 497 participants (13.1%) alternated their sleep habits. The most of the desynchronized participants (n = 414) were older than 50 years (age correlation r = 0.80), and predominantly males (n = 297, r = 0.76). Conclusion In self-selected sleep conditions, the timing of sleep and sleep habits significantly differ from those of socially and economically fixed daily routine conditions. The changes in daily temporal patterns of humans during a prolonged stay-at-home situation indicate that human sleep habits may change according to existing living conditions., Highlights • COVID-19 pandemic presented a unique opportunity to study human chronotypes. • We analyzed 3787 subjects with average stay-at-home of 65 ± 9 days. • The majority of the participants (66.8%) shifted toward eveningness at stay-at-home. • In addition, 497 participants (13.1%) alternated their sleep habits. • Human chronotypes may change according to existing living conditions.