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Sleep quality affects emotion in depression, anxiety

Recent findings indicated sleep quality affected emotion regulation in individuals with anxiety or depression disorders.

“Our research indicates sleep might play an important role in the ability to regulate negative emotions in people who suffer from anxiety or depression,” Heide Klumpp PhD, of University of Illinois at Chicago, said in a press release.

To determine if sleep quality impacts regulatory mechanisms in anxiety and depression, researchers conducted functional MRI while 78 individuals with social anxiety disorder, generalized anxiety disorder, or major depressive disorder completed a validated emotion regulation task.

Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) and actigraphy measures indicated most participants experienced disordered sleep. However, subjective and objective sleep measures were not related.

Whole-brain voxel-wise regression analysis that controlled for diagnosis indicated poorer self-reported sleep was associated with less reappraise-related activation in the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex.

Whole-brain voxel-wise regression analysis of actigraphy data indicated a positive association between less sleep efficiency and dorsal anterior cingulate cortex activation.

Post-hoc stepwise regression analysis indicated sleep measures predicted dorsal anterior cingulate cortex activity, while anxiety and depression symptoms did not.

“Results suggest perceived sleep quality differs from objective parameters of sleep at the brain and behavioral level. Additionally, shared neurobiological substrates in sleep and cognitive reappraisal may explain disturbances in emotion regulation across anxiety and depression and thus could serve as a transdiagnostic target for therapeutic strategies,” the researchers concluded. – by Amanda Oldt

Disclosure: The researchers report no relevant financial disclosures.