ArticleAnnals of behavioral medicine : a publication of the Society of Behavioral Medicine2021
Heart Rate Variability, Sleep Quality, and Depression in the Context of Chronic Stress.
Article in Annals of behavioral medicine : a publication of the Society of Behavioral Medicine, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 51 papers, 4 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
51 citing papers in PubMed, 4 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 110 citations in OpenAlex.
- The Role of Digital Biomarkers in Physiological Signal-Based Depression Assessment: Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.Journal of medical Internet research · 2026Pooled it
- Social jetlag and depressive symptoms among young people: a systematic review and meta-analysis.BMC psychiatry · 2025Pooled it
- Heart rate variability and overtraining in soccer players: A systematic review.Physiological reports · 2025Pooled it
- The efficacy of cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia in adolescents: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials.Frontiers in public health · 2024Pooled it
- Beyond HIV Shame: Effects of Self-Forgiveness in Improving Mental Health in HIV-Positive Individuals in Poland.Journal of religion and health · 2024Trial
- Efficacy of Individualized Sensory-Based mHealth Interventions to Improve Distress Coping in Healthcare Professionals: A Multi-Arm Parallel-Group Randomized Controlled Trial.Sensors (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Trial
- Heart rate variability and autonomic function in health professions students: Associations with academic stress and lifestyle factors.Physiological reports · 2026Article
- Article
- Measurement of Serum Parameters Attributes the Therapeutic Effects of Music Therapy to Augmented Stress-Coping Ability and Diminished Systemic Inflammation.Depression and anxiety · 2026Article
- Age Differences in Factors Associated With Insomnia Severity: A Comparative Study of Questionnaire Scores and Heart Rate Variability Parameters.Depression and anxiety · 2026Article
- Non-invasive physiological indicators of welfare in dairy cows.Animal welfare (South Mimms, England) · 2026Article
- Deviation From Optimal Physical Activity Duration Worsens Depressive Symptoms Through High Sleep Reactivity and Poor Sleep Quality in Adult Volunteers From the Community.European journal of sport science · 2026Article
- Transcutaneous auricular vagus nerve stimulation for major depressive disorder: current evidence and future research directions.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2026Review
- Epigenetic Signatures of Social Defeat Stress Varying Duration.International journal of molecular sciences · 2025Article
- Interaction between anxiety, depression, and low resilience predicts poor prognosis in patients with chronic kidney disease.World journal of psychiatry · 2025Article
- Sleep quality and the biological stress system during an internet-based intervention for major depressive disorder.Comprehensive psychoneuroendocrinology · 2025Article
- Sleep in Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis: An Exploratory Investigation of Heart Rate Variability.Brain sciences · 2025Article
- Insomnia and depressive symptoms mediate childhood abuse and psychotic experience of male juvenile offenders: a chain mediation model.BMC psychology · 2025Article
- Combined Proxies for Heart Rate Variability as a Global Tool to Assess and Monitor Autonomic Dysregulation in Fibromyalgia and Disease-Related Impairments.Sensors (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Observational
- The mediating effects of sleep quality in the relationship between loneliness and depression among middle-aged and older adults.Scientific reports · 2025Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
4 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundDisrupted sleep quality is one of the proposed mechanisms through which chronic stress may lead to depression. However, there exist significant individual differences in sleep reactivity, which is the extent to which one experiences sleep disturbances in response to stress. PURPOSE: The aim of the current study was to investigate whether low high-frequency heart rate variability (HRV), as a psychophysiological marker of poor emotional and physiological arousal regulation, predicts stress-related sleep disturbances associated with greater risk of depression symptoms.
methodsUsing a chronic caregiving stress model, 125 mothers of adolescents with developmental disorders and 97 mothers of typically developing adolescents had their resting HRV and HRV reactivity recorded and completed a measure of depressive symptoms, as well as a 7 day sleep diary to assess their sleep quality. A moderated mediation model tested whether sleep quality mediated the association between chronic stress exposure and depressive symptoms and whether HRV moderated this mediation.
resultsAfter controlling for participant age, body mass index, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, and employment status, poor sleep quality mediated the association between chronic stress and depressive symptoms. Resting HRV moderated this indirect effect such that individuals with lower HRV were more likely to report poorer sleep quality in the context of chronic stressor exposure, which, in turn, was related to greater depressive symptoms.
conclusionsLower HRV, a potential biomarker of increased sleep reactivity to stress, is associated with greater vulnerability to stress-related sleep disturbances, which, in turn, increases the risk for elevated depressive symptoms in response to chronic stress.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.