ArticleSleep health2024
Irregular sleep is linked to poorer mental health: A pooled analysis of eight studies.
Article in Sleep health, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 18 papers.
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Who cites it
18 citing papers in PubMed.
- Actigraphy-derived sleep patterns in children and adolescents with persistent post-concussion symptoms: An exploratory study.JSAMS plus · 2026Article
- Toward an idiographic understanding of the role of sleep-mood dynamics in adolescents' internalizing symptoms.JCPP advances · 2026Article
- Mental health in elite athletes: International Olympic Committee consensus statement (2026).British journal of sports medicine · 2026Article
- Predicting next-day suicidal urges, depression, and PTSD symptoms using ecological momentary assessments and passive sensing of sleep among military service members and veterans.Journal of affective disorders · 2026Article
- Developmental trajectories of sleep in offspring of parents with mood disorders.Psychological medicine · 2026Article
- Circadian instability following mass trauma predicts PTSD risk.Translational psychiatry · 2026Article
- Sex- and Ethnic Differences in the Cross-sectional Association Between Sleep Regularity and Obesity Among US Adults, NHANES 2011-2014.Journal of biological rhythms · 2026Article
- Depression and mental health in late adolescents: the sequential mediating roles of quality of life and sleep regularity.BMC psychiatry · 2026Article
- Article
- The Dynamic Interaction Between Psychological Health and Sleep Symptoms Following Adolescent Concussion.The Journal of pediatrics · 2026Article
- Compositional Associations of 24-h Movement Behaviors With Depressive and Anxiety Symptoms in Middle-Aged Adults.Depression and anxiety · 2026Article
- Beyond the hours slept: inconsistent sleep routines threaten mental health in 100,000 UK Biobank participants.BMC public health · 2025Article
- Assessment of Perceived HIV Vulnerability, Knowledge Regarding HIV Transmission, and Associated Sociodemographic Factors Among Urban Slum Dweller Adults in Bangladesh: A Cross-Sectional Study.Health science reports · 2025Article
- Validation study of the Arabic translation of the sleep regularity questionnaire (SRQ).Sleep & breathing = Schlaf & Atmung · 2025Article
- Article
- Associations between intraindividual variability in weekday-weekend sleep timing and duration and eating disorder pathology.Eating behaviors · 2025Article
- High risk, low rest: a new framework for monitoring sleep vulnerability in emergency medicine.Frontiers in public health · 2025Observational
- Sleep, Well-Being, and Cognition in Medical Interns on a Float or Overnight Call Schedule.JAMA network open · 2024Observational
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Authors and funding
6 authors.
Funding
Abstract
objectivesGreater sleep disturbances on average are a risk factor for impaired mental health. Recent research has shown that more intraindividual variability (i.e., inconsistency) in sleep (hereafter called "sleep intraindividual variability") may also be uniquely related to mental health, even above the influence of mean sleep patterns averaged across days. The current study examined associations between sleep intraindividual variability and symptoms of anxiety, depression, and insomnia across different facets of sleep intraindividual variability (sleep duration, efficiency, and timing) and sleep measurement types (sleep diary and actigraphy).
methodsWe pooled eight datasets (N = 3053 participants) that assessed repeated measures of sleep diary- and/or actigraphy-determined sleep across multiple days, as well as one-time measures of mental health or sleep disorder symptoms (i.e., anxiety, depression, and insomnia). Multilevel regression analyses were conducted to examine associations between sleep intraindividual variability and mental health or sleep disorder symptoms.
resultsGreater diary- and actigraphy-determined sleep duration intraindividual variability was associated with more depression symptoms (diary: b=0.02, p < .001; actigraphy: b=0.03, p = .006) and more insomnia symptoms (diary: b=0.02, p < .001; actigraphy: b=0.02, p < .001). Greater diary-determined sleep efficiency intraindividual variability was associated with fewer anxiety symptoms (b=-0.23, p = .019) and fewer insomnia symptoms (b=-0.15, p < .001). Greater diary- and actigraphy-determined sleep midpoint intraindividual variability was associated with more insomnia symptoms (diary: b=0.41, p = .044; actigraphy: b=0.66, p = .021).
conclusionsMore inconsistent sleep duration and sleep timing may be a correlate of poorer mental health. Future experimental work should examine whether stabilizing sleep patterns can improve mental health outcomes.
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