(Catharine Paddock/ Medical News Today) — After analyzing day and night patterns of activity and rest in more than 90,000 United Kingdom residents, researchers have found a strong link between disrupted sleep-wake cycles and higher risk of mood disorders, such as bipolar and depression, and poorer well-being.
The study, which is now published in The Lancet Psychiatry, is the first of its kind to use objective measures of activity in a group that is large enough to produce statistically meaningful results.
“Our findings indicate an association,” notes first study author Dr. Laura M. Lyall, who’s a research associate in the Institute of Health & Wellbeing at the University of Glasgow, U.K., “between altered daily circadian rhythms and mood disorders and well-being.”
However, Dr. Lyall also points out that while the findings reveal a strong link, theirs was an observational study, and so they cannot say whether disrupted circadian rhythm increases our susceptibility to mood disorders or whether having mood disorders disrupts our circadian rhythm. (…)