Abstract
Sleep loss causes mood disturbance in non-clinical populations under severe conditions, i.e., two days/nights of sleep deprivation or a week of sleep restriction with 4–5 h in bed each night. However, the effects of more-common types of sleep loss on mood disturbance are not yet known. Therefore, the aim of this study was to examine mood disturbance in healthy adults over a week with nightly time in bed controlled at 5, 6, 7, 8 or 9 h. Participants (n = 115) spent nine nights in the laboratory and were given either 5, 6, 7, 8 or 9 h in bed over seven consecutive nights. Mood was assessed daily using the Profile of Mood States (POMS-2). Mixed-linear effects models examined the effect of time in bed on total mood disturbance and subscales of anger-hostility, confusion-bewilderment, depression-dejection, fatigue-inertia, tension-anxiety, vigour-activity and friendliness. There was no effect of time in bed on total mood disturbance (F(4, 110.42) = 1.31, p = 0.271) or any of the subscales except fatigue-inertia. Fatigue-inertia was higher in the 5 h compared with the 9 h time in bed condition (p = 0.012, d = 0.75). Consecutive nights of moderate sleep loss (i.e., 5–7 h) does not affect mood but does increase fatigue in healthy males.
Highlights
Published: 20 August 2021Mood plays a fundamental role in psychological well-being and psychopathology [1].Patterns of mood variability are criteria for several psychiatric diagnoses [2] and can be used to predict the decline or improvement of clinical and non-clinical psychopathological symptoms [3]
The primary findings were that (i) fatigue was higher following consecutive nights of 5 h time in bed compared with 7–9 h time bed; (ii) most aspects of mood were not affected by the duration of time in bed; and (iii) consecutive days in the sleep laboratory reduced positive aspects of mood
Fatigue-inertia was the only sub-scale of mood that was affected by moderate sleep loss over normal range—despite the consensus that mood is sensitive to sleep restriction or sleep deprivation [7]
Summary
Patterns of mood variability are criteria for several psychiatric diagnoses (e.g., generalised anxiety, depression) [2] and can be used to predict the decline or improvement of clinical and non-clinical psychopathological symptoms [3]. The inability to regulate mood can lead to numerous problems such as reduced psychological functioning, increased depression and anxiety, and poor life satisfaction [1,4]. One factor that contributes to mood instability is sleep loss. Sleep loss has been associated with mood disturbances in both clinical [5,6] and non-clinical populations [7]. Between 8.3–20.5% of Australian adults experience non-clinical mood disturbances such as high psychological distress [9]. Understanding the extent to which sleep may contribute to mood variability is an important consideration
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