Stress Susceptibility Moderates the Relationship Between Eveningness Preference and Poor Sleep Quality in Non-Acute Mood Disorder Patients and Healthy Controls

Urbanisation negatively impacts sleep health and mood in adolescents: a comparative study of female students from city and rural schools of North India

This study investigated the impact of social settings on sleep, physical and mental health in female adolescents of North India (latitude 29.5 oN; longitude 77.5 oE). Using a battery of questionnaires, we compared the chronotype, sleep-wake pattern, sleep health (e.g. sleep quality, daytime sleepiness and fatigue) and mood (via depression, anxiety and stress symptoms) in female students (age 14-18 years) from rural (N = 719) and urban (N = 1033) schools separated by about 35 km, but families had almost similar socio-demographic details. The morning type was prevalent amongst rural, whilst the evening type was prevalent amongst urban students who also had access to smart phones, suggesting a possible greater use of the internet. There were greater negative sleep effects, daytime sleepiness, overall poor sleep quality, higher fatigue and anxiety levels in urban than the rural cohort. Interestingly, these measures also differed between school days and free days, suggesting an impact of the conflict between internal biological and social timings (= social jet lag). We also found a significant relationship between chronotype, internet addiction, mood-related parameters and measures of sleep health. Overall, these results suggest a possible impact of social settings on sleep health and mood-related behaviours in female adolescents.

The effect of circadian preference and sleep disturbances on depression in children 6 to 12 years of age

Circadian rhythm and sleep disruption have been associated with depressive symptoms in children. This study was conducted to determine sleep disturbances and circadian preferences and their possible associations with depression in healthy children 6 to 12 years of age. A total of 111 healthy children (mean age 7.5 years; 62.2% male) were included. Sleep disturbances and depression were determined by the Sleep Disturbance Scale for Children (SDSC) and the Children's Depression Inventory (CDI), respectively. Circadian preference was evaluated by the Morningness - Eveningness Stability Scale improved (MESSi). SDSC was correlated with CDI (r = 0.396, p < 0.001). Morning affect was inversely correlated with CDI (r = -0.405, p < 0.001), SDSC (r = -0.348, p < 0.001), and three subdimensions of SDSC, i.e. disorders of initiating and maintaining sleep (DIMS, r = -0.317, p = 0.001), disorders of arousal (DA, r = -0.375, p < 0.001) and disorders of excessive somnolence (DOES, r = -0.303, p = 0.001). Distinctness was inversely correlated with CDI (r = -0.402, p < 0.001) and SDSC (r = -0.274, p < 0.001). Increased use of electronic devices was associated with higher CDI (p = 0.003), while decreased duration of physical activity with higher SDSC (p = 0.017). Our findings support the recommendations addressing sleep and circadian preferences as lifestyle modifications in reducing depression in children.

Brain-predicted age difference mediates the association between PROMIS sleep impairment, and self-reported pain measure in persons with knee pain

Knee pain, the most common cause of musculoskeletal pain (MSK), constitutes a severe public health burden. Its neurobiological causes, however, remain poorly understood. Among many possible causes, it has been proposed that sleep problems could lead to an increase in chronic pain symptomatology, which may be driven by central nervous system changes. In fact, we previously found that brain cortical thickness mediated the relationship between sleep qualities and pain severity in older adults with MSK. We also demonstrated a significant difference in a machine-learning-derived brain-aging biomarker between participants with low-and high-impact knee pain. Considering this, we examined whether brain aging was associated with self-reported sleep and pain measures, and whether brain aging mediated the relationship between sleep problems and knee pain. Exploratory Spearman and Pearson partial correlations, controlling for age, sex, race and study site, showed a significant association of brain aging with sleep related impairment and self-reported pain measures. Moreover, mediation analysis showed that brain aging significantly mediated the effect of sleep related impairment on clinical pain and physical symptoms. Our findings extend our prior work demonstrating advanced brain aging among individuals with chronic pain and the mediating role of brain-aging on the association between sleep and pain severity. Future longitudinal studies are needed to further understand whether the brain can be a therapeutic target to reverse the possible effect of sleep problems on chronic pain.

God save the owls! Religiosity moderates the relationship between morningness-eveningness and depressive symptoms

Studies show that eveningness preference and depressive symptoms are positively related. However, little is known about possible factors that could reduce this association. In the present study, we examine the moderating effects of religiosity on the relationship between eveningness and depressive symptoms. The main analyses were conducted on a group of 606 individuals (300 women and 306 men) aged 18 to 36 years (M = 29.00, SD = 4.95). The participants completed the Composite Scale of Morningness, the Patient Health Questionnaire-9, and the Centrality of Religiosity Scale. Our results confirmed earlier findings that eveningness was positively related to depressive symptoms. The magnitude of this association decreased with higher religiosity. This lead to the conclusion that religiosity may act as a protective factor against elevated depressive symptoms among evening-oriented individuals.