Link to the May 2023 newsletter https://mailchi.mp/emfsa/ergonomics-children-adolescents-mental-health-ehs-mcs

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Highlights

• Chronotype is related to depressive symptoms and quality of life in mood disorders.

• The bipolar I disorder group showed the highest Composite Scale for Morningness score among the three mood disorders.

• Less eveningness was associated with less severe depressive symptoms and better quality of life.

•Becoming more morning-oriented may reduce depressive symptoms and recover function of mood disorder patients.

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0165032722008400

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Topic: Cold Thermogenesis

When: Sun May 15, 2022 3pm – 4pm (SAST)

Link to webinar:

https://www.buymeacoffee.com/EMFSA/emfsa-webinar-may-2022-cold-thermogenesis

Background: https://mailchi.mp/emfsa/ehs-inflammation-depression-autoimmunity-cancer-diabetes

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The post Sleep Disturbances, Circadian Activity and Nocturnal Light Exposure Characterize High Risk for and Current Depression in Adolescence appeared first on EMFSA.

How can we help ourselves with pragmatic, cost effective strategies?

Read our April 2022 newsletter at:

https://mailchi.mp/emfsa/ehs-inflammation-depression-autoimmunity-cancer-diabetes

For those that struggle with screens, a pdf is available upon request.

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Abstract

Activities may be modifiable factors that moderate the risk and resilience in the development of mental health and illness. Youth who spend more time using screens are more likely to have poor mental health. Conversely, time spent engaged in active behaviors (i.e., physical activity, socializing and reading) is associated with better mental health. The choice of activities may be important in offspring of parents with mental illness, who are at increased risk for developing mental disorders. Among 357 youth of the FORBOW (Families Overcoming Risks and Building Opportunities for Well-being) cohort aged 6-21, we examined whether parental diagnosis of mental illness (i.e., major depressive disorder, schizophrenia and bipolar disorder) and current levels of depression influenced the amount of time their offspring spent using screens and engaging in active behaviors. Parental history of mental illness and higher levels of current depression in mothers were associated with less time spent engaged in active behaviors and more time spent using screens. Creating opportunities and incentives for active behaviors may redress the balance between youth with and without a familial history of mental illness.

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31813597/

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Abundant empirical research has demonstrated the relationship between parenting style and adolescent problematic online game use (POGU), but the direction and underlying mechanism of this association remain unclear. Using a 1-year longitudinal design across three time points, the present study explored interrelations among parenting styles, depressive symptoms, and POGU from the theoretical perspective of the developmental cascade model and examined whether depressive symptoms mediate the relationship between parenting style and POGU. A sample of 1,041 children was recruited from two junior middle schools in China, of which 46.3% were boys. Results confirmed the cascade effects and showed that the reciprocal effect of parenting style, depressive symptoms, and POGU was significant, and parental control and POGU can predict each other via depressive symptoms. Knowledge regarding the direct and underlying mechanisms between parenting style, depressive symptoms, and POGU provides reference suggestions for the prevention and intervention of adolescent depressive symptoms and problematic online game use.

https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpubh.2021.710667/full

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Teenagers, young adults, students and their parents are encouraged to attend, as well as others struggling with these conditions.

When: Sun Sep 26, 2021

Time: 3pm – 4pm (SAST)

Presenter: J. C. Lech

The link to attend the webinar is available for members at https://www.buymeacoffee.com/EMFSA/webinar-link-sun-sep-26-2021-anxiety-depression

The post Webinar-Sunday Sep 26, 2021: Anxiety, Depression, Addiction, Suicide Risk appeared first on EMFSA.

Abstract

Study Objectives

Individual circadian type is a ubiquitous trait defining sleep, with eveningness often associated with poorer sleep and mental health than morningness. However, it is unknown whether COVID-19 pandemic has differentially affected sleep and mental health depending on the circadian type. Here, the differences in sleep and mental health between circadian types are examined globally before and during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Methods

The sample collected between May and August 2020 across 12 countries/regions consisted of 19,267 adults with information on their circadian type. Statistical analyses were performed by using Complex Sample procedures, stratified by country and weighted by the number of inhabitants in the country/area of interest and by the relative number of responders in that country/area.

Evening-types had poorer mental health, well-being, and quality of life or health than other circadian types during the pandemic. Sleep-wake schedules were delayed especially on working days, and evening-types reported an increase in sleep duration. Sleep problems increased in all circadian types, but especially among evening-types, moderated by financial suffering and confinement. Intermediate-types were less vulnerable to sleep changes, although morningness protected from most sleep problems. These findings were confirmed after adjusting for age, sex, duration of the confinement or socio-economic status during the pandemic.

Conclusions

These findings indicate an alarming increase in sleep and mental health problems, especially among evening-types as compared to other circadian types during the pandemic.

https://academic.oup.com/sleep/advance-article/doi/10.1093/sleep/zsab216/6357297

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Highlights

• Greater time in outdoor light was associated with lowered odds of lifetime major depressive disorder•

• More daylight predicted better outcomes across a range of mood and sleep measures•

• These relationships held in both cross-sectional and longitudinal analyses

Abstract

Background

: Light has powerful effects on mood, sleep, and the circadian system. Humans evolved in an environment with a clear distinction between day and night, but our modern environments have blurred this distinction. Negative effects of light exposure at night have been well characterized. The importance of daytime light exposure has been less well characterized. Here we examine the cross-sectional and longitudinal associations of time spent in daytime outdoor light with mood-, sleep-, and circadian-related outcomes.

Methods

: Participants were drawn from the UK Biobank cohort, a large study of UK adults (n = 502,000; 37-73 years old; 54% women).

Results

: UK Biobank participants reported spending a median of 2.5 daylight hours (IQR = 1.5 – 3.5 hours) outdoors per day. Each additional hour spent outdoors during the day was associated with lower odds of lifetime major depressive disorder (95% CI OR:0.92-0.98), antidepressant usage (OR:0.92-0.98), less frequent anhedonia (OR:0.93-0.96) and low mood (OR:0.87-0.90), greater happiness (OR:1.41-1.48) and lower neuroticism (incident rate ratio, IRR:0.95-0.96). In addition, each hour of daytime light was associated with greater ease of getting up (OR:1.46-1.49), less frequent tiredness (OR:0.80-0.82), fewer insomnia symptoms (OR:0.94-0.97), and earlier chronotype (adjusted odds ratio; OR:0.75-0.77). Auto-Regressive Cross-Lagged (ARCL) models were used to examine the longitudinal association of time spent in outdoor light at baseline with later mood-, sleep- and circadian-related outcomes reported at time point 2. Overall, longitudinal associations support cross-sectional findings, though generally with smaller effect sizes.

Limitations

: Future studies that examine the intensity of daytime light exposure at the ocular level are needed.

Conclusions

: Our findings suggest that daytime light exposure is a relevant environmental risk factor for mood-, sleep-, and circadian-related outcomes. These findings support the increased daytime light exposure as beneficial for both mood and sleep disorders.

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0165032721008612

© 2021 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

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