Do you experience sleep disturbances during the winter months? If so, those disturbances likely come from seasonal depression. Psychiatric Research Journal We investigate different patterns and profiles of these sleep disorders in hopes of improving future treatments.
Seasonal depression is a type of mood disorder associated with certain times of the year, usually winter. Due to the lack of light in many places in winter, treatments such as light therapy are utilized for seasonal depression, in addition to more traditional treatments such as cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) and psychotropic medications.
Sleep and circadian rhythms are thought to play an important role in seasonal depression, but they are heterogeneous and exist in different ways, requiring different treatments. aims to better understand the different patterns and typologies of sleep disturbances associated with seasonal depression to support future interventions and treatments.
In this study, Delaney L. Wescott of the University of Pittsburgh and colleagues utilized 103 participants aged 18 to 65 who were recruited through the Pittsburgh, PA research registry. All data were collected during the winter from 21st December to his 21st December.st and March 21ststParticipants completed clinical interviews assessing seasonal depression and other DSM-5 diagnoses, as well as changes in mood, behavior, appetite, sleep, energy, weight, and social behavior across different seasons.
Participants completed circadian phase biomarker measurements for 6 hours in the laboratory. Participants wore a watch that measured her actigraphic data, such as sleep onset, total sleep time, sleep efficiency, sleep midpoint, and wakefulness after sleep onset, for 5–14 days. Finally, the participant completed her 5–14-day sleep diary.
The results showed that there are multiple identifiable patterns and profiles of sleep and circadian rhythm disturbances. This included the ‘interrupted sleep’ and ‘advanced’ clusters. The former consisted of irregular, fragmented and inefficient sleep, while the latter was characterized by longer, earlier sleep and circadian timing.
Different clusters were identified, but these different profiles did not differ significantly with respect to depression severity or diagnosis. These different clusters influence treatments and interventions.
This study suggests that CBT-I may help stabilize sleep in the ‘disturbed’ group, whereas the ‘advanced’ cluster responded better to behavioral activation, May socialize rather than settle early.
This study has taken an important step towards better understanding the different profiles of sleep disturbances associated with seasonal depression. This has implications for therapy. However, there are limitations to be aware of. One such limitation is that the study accepted her 5 or more days for actigraphic measurements.
Moreover, the sample size was on the small end of the cluster analysis. Future studies could extend this work by utilizing larger and more diverse samples.
“Personally tailored precision medicine approaches may be useful in treating sleep and circadian rhythm disruptions in seasonal depression,” the researchers concluded. “Changing our view of sleep and circadian rhythm disturbances in seasonal depression from uniform hypersomnia and phase delays to more accurate heterogeneous representations may be more effective in identifying the most promising interventions. “Identifying key drivers of sleep-related pathophysiology in seasonal depression can help minimize time to remission and reduce relapse rates.”
“It is very important to replicate the current findings. Although the current study focuses on seasonal depression, sleep and circadian rhythm disturbances go beyond diagnosis. Targeting profiles of biological rhythms, when tested prospectively, may help us understand the etiology of mood dysregulation.”
The study, “Sleep and Circadian Rhythm Profiles in Seasonal Depression,” was conducted by Delayey L. Wescott, Meredith L. Wallace, Brant P. Hasler, Alison M. Klevens, Peter L. Franzen, Martica H. Hall, and Kathryn Written by A. .Roecklein.
