Research suggests patients with bipolar disorder should self-monitor sleep duration to predict mood change.
MedWire (1/6, Davenport) reports that, according to a study published in the Journal of Affective Disorders, patients with bipolar disorder “should self-monitor their sleep duration in order to predict mood change.” For the study, researchers from Germany’s Technische Universität Dresden “examined data on mood, sleep, and medications recorded every day by 101 adult bipolar disorder outpatients on a home computer for an average of 265 days. All patients received treatment as usual.” For each patient, “the team calculated a daily time series of mood, sleep duration, sleep onset, and sleep offset.” The investigators observed “a significant cross-correlation between sleep duration and mood…in 42 percent of the patients.” Therefore, the authors recommended that “patients with bipolar disorder be taught to monitor sleep duration for an oncoming mood change, rather than sleep onset or sleep offset.”
Research suggests patients with bipolar disorder should self-monitor sleep duration to predict mood change.
January 6, 2009 by abrandemihl
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This is why I believe a website like mood tracker is invaluable. http://www.moodtracker.com. I truly believe that sleep is one of the best predicitive factors for an upcoming manic or depressive episode in Bipolar patients. Sleep and mood diaries can be very helpful for patients and psychiatrists alike.
Sleep duration can be one of several factors associated with mood changes. However, the analogy, “the chicken or the egg” comes to mind. Stressful situations and cycling are the cause of sleep disturbances. So, to me, sleep duration is an effect, not a cause, and is not a useful way to determine mood changes occurring.
This is interesting. I have been researching more and more about bipolar disorder . I came across a memoir written by Cynthia Sabotka called Life is Like a Line. This is a story about a family broken by a lifetime of deceit and the mental illness that has followed them for generations. I laughed, and I cried. It moved me from beginning to end.