A sign of mental disorders was found

Researchers from Canada and Finland found out that for people with mental disorders is characterized by the worst than the rest of the people, sleep quality. The article of scientists has been published in PLOS Medicine magazine.

It is known that sleep problems are both a sign and a risk factor for many mental disorders. Researchers from the Center for Narcology and Mental Health of Canada, and the University of Helsinki studied data on a dream of more than 89 thousand participants in the UK Biobank study, which in the period from 2013 to 2015 agreed around the clock for seven days to wear accelerometers on the hand. For all participants, data on the presence of mental disorders have a large depressive disorder, alarming disorders, bipolar disorders and schizophrenic spectrum disorders.

With the help of computing algorithms – in particular, machine learning models – researchers have reduced data obtained in ten metrics: Waste time, awakening time, sleep efficiency (the ratio of the total sleep time by the time spent in bed), the number of awakens, the greatest Duration of continuous sleep and so on. Then they compared them with healthy participants and those who have previously been diagnosed mental disorders. It was found that each diagnosis was associated on average as amended by 8.5 out of 10 metrics. The indicators of sleep quality, not its duration changed more. The departure time and the awakening time were later, and sleep efficiency is lower. At the same time, the effects themselves were small; The greatest was the relationship between sleep efficiency and large depressive disorder.

/Media reports.