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Sleep disruption worse than delayed bedtime for mood

Sleep loss from sleep continuity disruption was worse for mood than sleep loss from delaying bedtime, according to research published in Sleep.

"When your sleep is disrupted throughout the night, you don't have the opportunity to progress through the sleep stages to get the amount of slow-wave sleep that is key to the feeling of restoration," Patrick H. Finan, PhD, department of psychiatry and behavioral sciences, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, said in a release.

The researchers analyzed the sleep of 62 participants, both female (n = 39) and male (n = 23). Participants took several questionnaires before their bedtimes, including the Profile of Mood States Bipolar and the Stanford Sleepiness Scale. Finan and colleagues used nocturnal polysomnography to measure sleep architecture.

Participants were divided into three groups: uninterrupted sleep (US, n = 24), forced nocturnal awakenings (FA, n = 21) and restricted sleep opportunity (RSO, n = 17). US participants slept undisturbed for 8 hours. FA participants experienced 3 consecutive nights of partial sleep deprivation based on a forced awakening protocol; participants could only achieve 280 minutes of sleep. RSO participants also experienced 3 consecutive nights of partial sleep deprivation by delaying bedtime; these participants had sleep times matched to a subject in the FA group.

Patrick H. Finan

Results showed that US participants did not experience a change in positive (P = 0.15) or negative (P = 0.43) mood.

FA participants had less slow wave sleep after the first night of sleep deprivation compared with RSO controls (P < .05). FA participants also had lower positive mood after the second night of sleep deprivation compared to RSO controls (P < .05).

Finan and colleagues noted that specific populations are prone to sleep disruption.

"Sleep maintenance difficulty is the most commonly reported symptom of insomnia, and is a common feature of sleep in a variety of other contexts, such as early parenthood, combat, and on-call health care work," Finan and colleagues wrote.

The researchers said that research of the relationship between mood and sleep should continue, noting the implications of insomnia, depression and comorbid disorders.

"The current study introduces the novel finding that sleep continuity disruption reduces positive mood via disruption of [slow wave sleep], and adds texture to an emerging body of literature that highlights the ramifications of insomnia on the regulation of positive emotions," Finan and colleagues concluded. "Together, these emergent data provide a compelling rationale for a putative pathway linking insomnia and depression." – by Chelsea Frajerman Pardes

Disclosures: The authors report no relevant financial disclosures.