A new study from the University of Michigan reveals the strong link between sleep cycles and emotional state, suggesting that aligning sleep with our natural circadian rhythms can significantly improve mood and potentially alleviate symptoms of mood disorders.
Sleep schedules are often one of the first things that people choose to compromise in order to check everything off their to-do lists, especially with the end of the year approaching. But folks hoping for happy holidays should reconsider. A new study from the University of Michigan shows that when people's sleep cycles are misaligned with their internal clocks, or circadian rhythms, it can have drastic effects on their moods.
Conversely, however, that means getting sleep when the body's expecting it provides a potent boost to one's emotional state and could alleviate symptoms associated with mood disorders, said senior author Daniel Forger. 'This is not going to solve depression. We need to be very, very clear about that,' said Forger, professor in the Department of Mathematics and director of the Michigan Center for Applied and Interdisciplinary Mathematics. 'But this is a key factor that we can actually control. We can't control someone's life events. We can't control their relationships or their genetics. But what we can do is very carefully look at their individual sleep patterns and circadian rhythms to really see how that's affecting their mood.'People have long known that sleep affects mood, but mostly in a conceptual, almost lighthearted way. For instance, we often use words like'cranky' or'fussy' when discussing this connection. Yet previous studies have consistently found links between sleep -- its duration, quality and disruption -- and serious mental health concerns, including suicide risk. 'Sleep is important to us, but maybe not in the same way we care about depression,' Forger said.'But there's been a tremendous amount of research coming out showing that mood affects circadian rhythms and sleep, and that circadian rhythms and sleep affect mood.' This research, however, has almost exclusively been performed in controlled settings, Forger sai
SLEEP CIRCADIAN RHYTHMS MOOD MENTAL HEALTH
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