Affective Experience and Regulation via Sleep, Touch, and "Sleep-Touch" Among Couples

Monitoring Daily Sleep, Mood, and Affect Using Digital Technologies and Wearables: A Systematic Review

Background: Sleep and affective states are closely intertwined. Nevertheless, previous methods to evaluate sleep-affect associations have been limited by poor ecological validity, with a few studies examining temporal or dynamic interactions in naturalistic settings. Objectives: First, to update and integrate evidence from studies investigating the reciprocal relationship between daily sleep and affective phenomena (mood, affect, and emotions) through ambulatory and prospective monitoring. Second, to evaluate differential patterns based on age, affective disorder diagnosis (bipolar, depression, and anxiety), and shift work patterns on day-to-day sleep-emotion dyads. Third, to summarise the use of wearables, actigraphy, and digital tools in assessing longitudinal sleep-affect associations. Method: A comprehensive PRISMA-compliant systematic review was conducted through the EMBASE, Ovid MEDLINE(R), PsycINFO, and Scopus databases. Results: Of the 3024 records screened, 121 studies were included. Bidirectionality of sleep-affect associations was found (in general) across affective disorders (bipolar, depression, and anxiety), shift workers, and healthy participants representing a range of age groups. However, findings were influenced by the sleep indices and affective dimensions operationalised, sampling resolution, time of day effects, and diagnostic status. Conclusions: Sleep disturbances, especially poorer sleep quality and truncated sleep duration, were consistently found to influence positive and negative affective experiences. Sleep was more often a stronger predictor of subsequent daytime affect than vice versa. The strength and magnitude of sleep-affect associations were more robust for subjective (self-reported) sleep parameters compared to objective (actigraphic) sleep parameters.

The meaning of touch: Relational and individual variables shape emotions and intentions associated with imagined social touch

Touch is a key channel for conveying meaning in social interactions. The affective quality of touch and its effects on well-being are shaped by relational context (relationship between touch giver vs. recipient) and person variables (e.g. adult attachment style). Yet, such effects have not been explored in relation to the meaning ascribed to touch. We used data from the Touch Test, the world's largest touch survey, which included questions on the degree to which people felt and related specific emotions and intentions to imagined gentle stroking touch and hugs. In N = 23,428, we examined how relational context (imagined source of touch) and person variables (gender, recalled positive childhood touch and adult attachment style) were associated with positive (e.g. love, desire, support) and negative (e.g. fear, anger, warning) emotions and intentions related to imagined touch. Love, desire and support were endorsed more when participants had had their partner (vs. someone else) in mind, and women (vs. men) gave lower ratings for desire overall. Gentle stroking touch was most linked with arousal when participants had had their partner in mind. Further, more positive childhood touch and secure and anxious attachment scores were associated with more positive emotions and intentions, while the opposite was found for avoidant attachment scores. Lastly, positive childhood touch and higher anxious attachment scores were related to greater discrimination between distinct emotion and intention categories, while higher attachment avoidance was associated with reduced discriminability. Thus, contextual and person variables matter in shaping the meaning of social touch.

Loneliness and Marital Quality as Predictors of Older Adults' Insomnia Symptoms

The current study examined associations between marital quality, loneliness, and sleep within a nationally representative sample of older adults who participated in Wave 2 of the National Social Life, Health, and Aging Project (NSHAP). Participants (N = 559) had a spouse or partner and completed a novel sleep module that included subjective (i.e., insomnia symptoms) and objective (i.e., wake after sleep onset;WASO) markers of sleep. Upon controlling for demographics and markers of mental and physical health, a distinct pattern of findings emerged for subjective versus objective markers of sleep. Regarding subjective sleep, older adults who experienced greater loneliness reported more insomnia symptoms, but only when spousal emotional support was low-moderate. Regarding objective sleep, older adults who reported more affectionate touch from their spouse experienced less WASO. Collectively, these findings identify specific aspects of marital quality that may have unique implications for partnered older adults' subjective and objective sleep quality.

Effects of co-sleeping with a shift worker on sleep, mood and cognition

Objective

Although the negative effects of shift work on workers' sleep and mood are well-known, the effects of shift work on their sleep partners' sleep and mood have rarely been investigated. The current study explored the effects of co-sleeping with a shift worker (SW) on the partner's subjective sleep quality, daytime sleepiness, depressive symptoms, and cognitive disturbances.

Methods

Online sleep and work-environment self-report questionnaires (e.g., including the presence of co-sleepers, work schedules of the co-sleepers, and their work schedules) were administered. The questionnaires also included the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), the Epworth Sleepiness Scale (ESS), the Cognitive Failures Questionnaire (CFQ), and the short-term Center for Epidemiologic Studies-Depression scale (CES-D). Participants consisted of co-sleepers of SWs (n = 657), co-sleepers of non-SWs (n = 2186), and solo sleepers (n = 2432).

Results

Significant between-group differences in the PSQI, ESS, CFQ, and CES-D were observed after controlling for age, gender, work shift, and parenting (p < 0.001). Co-sleepers of SWs showed higher PSQI, ESS, CFQ, and CES-D scores than co-sleepers of non-SWs and solo sleepers. Solo sleepers reported significantly higher PSQI and CES-D scores than co-sleepers of non-SWs. The PSQI, ESS, CFQ, and CES-D scores were significantly correlated in all groups. The association between the ESS and PSQI was stronger in co-sleepers of SWs than in solo sleepers. The association between the ESS and CES-D was stronger in co-sleepers of SWs than in solo sleepers.

Conclusions

Co-sleeping with SWs is associated with poor sleep quality, daytime sleepiness, depressive symptoms, and cognitive disturbances in the partner.

Socioemotional self- and co-regulation in functional seizures: comparing high and low posttraumatic stress

Functional seizures (FS) are seizure-like symptoms without electroencephalogram (EEG)-based epileptic activity. Those with FS often show emotion-related dysfunction and disrupted interpersonal relationships, in which posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms (PTS) may play a role. We sought to better understand trauma comorbidities and socioemotional processes in FS, including affectionate touch, a form of social connection linked to emotion regulation and awareness. We administered questionnaires online to a community sample of 89 trauma-exposed FS participants (FS diagnoses were self-reported), 51 with and 38 without clinical-level PTS (FS-PTShi, FS-PTSlo) and 216 seizure-free matched trauma-exposed controls (TCs), 91 with and 125 without clinical-level PTS (TC-PTShi, TC-PTSlo) per the Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Symptom Checklist (PCL). As hypothesized, both FS-PTShi and FS-PTSlo reported more emotional avoidance (Brief Experiential Avoidance Questionnaire), more emotion regulation difficulties (Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale), and more perceived stress (Perceived Stress Scale) than PTS-matched counterparts. FS-PTShi also reported less reappraisal (Emotion Regulation Questionnaire), more loneliness (UCLA Loneliness Scale), and less frequent affectionate touch (Physical Affection Scale) during waking and surrounding sleep than TC-PTShi, whereas FS-PTSlo and TC-PTSlo did not differ. Neither FS group differed from PTS-matched controls in emotion suppression (Emotion Regulation Questionnaire) or comfort with social touch (Social Touch Questionnaire). Among FS, FS-PTShi reported more difficulties than FS-PTSlo on nearly all measures (non-significant trend for social support). Findings underscore potential synergistic effects of FS and PTS clinical symptoms in shaping experiences of one's emotions and social world, suggesting fostering meaningful connections with others, including via affectionate touch, is an important treatment target.

Effects of aquatic exercise on mood and anxiety symptoms: A systematic review and meta-analysis

OBJECTIVE

Exercise has beneficial effects on mood and anxiety symptoms. However, the impact of aquatic exercise on mood and anxiety symptoms has not been clearly confirmed. Therefore, this study aimed to synthesize and systematically analyze evidence available on boosting mental health through aquatic exercise.

METHOD

A systematic review and meta-analysis were conducted under the PRISMA 2020 guidelines. PubMed, BIOSIS Previews, PsycINFO, Medline, SPORTDiscus, Education Source, and Web of Science Core Collection (WoSCC) were searched in May 2022. The research included the influence of aquatic exercises on mood and anxiety symptoms. After assessing trial quality and completing data extraction, a meta-analysis was carried out through R software. The results were presented as a standardized mean difference (SMD) and the corresponding 95% confidence interval.

RESULTS

A total of 18 original trials were included. People who received aquatic exercise intervention had a statistically significant reduction in mental disorder symptoms compared with before. The results were aquatic exercise [SMD = -0.77, 95% CI (-1.08, -0.47), I² = 77%, P < 0.01], swimming [SMD = -0.51, 95% CI (-1.14, 0.12), I² = 78%, P < 0.01], aquatic aerobics [SMD = -0.92, 95% CI (-1.32, -0.53), I² = 78%, P < 0.01], moderate intensity [SMD = -0.75, 95% CI (-1.07, -0.43), I² = 67%, P < 0.01], and low intensity [SMD = -1.07, 95% CI (-1.08, -0.47), I² = 85%, P < 0.01].

CONCLUSION

Aquatic exercise could statistically significantly improve mental health. Light aquatic aerobics probably has a better effect on mood and anxiety symptoms. However, given the number and quality of included research, verifying the aforementioned conclusions requires a larger sample of high-quality studies.