A study found that an irregular sleep schedule can increase a person’s risk of developing depression in the long run, by getting fewer hours of sleep in general or by staying awake later most nights.
And even when it comes to only having their moods for the next day, people whose waking time varies from day to day may find themselves in a bad mood like those who stayed up late the night before, or woke up early that morning, according to the study.
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The study, conducted by a team from Michigan Medicine, University of Michigan Academic Medical Center, uses data from direct measurements of the sleep and mood of more than 2,100 early-career physicians over a period of one year. It is published in npj Digital Medicine.
In the first year of residency training after medical school, all trainees experienced long, intense work days and irregular work schedules, which are the hallmarks of this time in medical training. These factors, which change from day to day, altered their ability to have regular sleep schedules.
The new research paper is based on data gathered by tracking trainees’ sleep and other activities through devices that are worn on the wrist, asking them to report their daily moods on a smartphone app and to take quarterly tests for signs of depression.
And those whose devices showed they had changing sleep schedules were more likely to score higher on standard questionnaires for depressive symptoms and had fewer daily mood ratings. And those who stayed regularly awake at night or got a few hours of sleep also scored higher in depressive symptoms and a decrease in daily mood.
The findings add to what is already known about the relationship between sleep, daily mood and long-term risk of depression.
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“Our findings are not only intended to guide self-management of sleep habits but also to inform institutional scheduling structures,” says Yu Fang, lead management team, lead author of the study, and a research specialist at the Michigan Institute of Neurosciences.
The study collected an average of two weeks of data before the doctors’ training years began, and nearly four months of monitoring during the training year.
The team worked with Cathy Goldstein, MD, associate professor of neurology and physician at the Sleep Disorders Center in Michigan Medicine.
“These findings highlight sleep consistency as an under-appreciated factor for targeting in depression and wellness. The work also emphasizes the potential of wearable devices in understanding sleep,” said Srijan Sen, MD, who is the Eisenberg professor in depression and neuroscience and professor of neuroscience and psychiatry. Important health-related combinations that we have not previously been able to study on a large scale. “
The team notes that the relatively young group of people participating in the study, with an average age of 27, who hold university degrees and medical degrees, is not representative of the general population. However, given that they all face similar workloads and schedules, they are a good group to test hypotheses on.
The researchers hope to study other populations, using similar devices and methods, to see if the results for variations in the sleep schedule are similar.
Source: medicalxpress
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