Scientists have identified five different sleep profiles, each associated with specific brain activity patterns and mental health symptoms.
Previous research has found associations between sleep and cognition, mental health and physical conditions, such as heart disease. However, these studies often analyzed the relationship with just one aspect of sleep, such as its duration or quality.
In an attempt to have a more general approach, a new study, last week in PLOS Biologyanalyzed the association between seven factors directly related to sleep and 118 other factors, including cognition, substance use and mental health.
As detailed by , for this investigation, cognitive tests, sleep surveys and brain scans were carried out on 770 healthy adults aged between 22 and 36 years in the USA.
From these data, we identified five distinct sleep profiles.
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O first was characterized by a general pattern of poor sleep — greater sleep disturbances, lower sleep satisfaction, and longer time to fall asleep — and worse mental health, with symptoms of depression and anxiety, as well as anger, fear, and stress.
Brain images of people in this group showed decreased connectivity between networks involved in self-reflection, such as the temporoparietal network, and those responsible for attention and tasks, such as the somatomotor and dorsal attention networks.
This may indicate disturbances in the brain’s ability to switch between the inner and outer world. For example, people in this category may ruminate on their thoughts and feelings rather than focusing on their surroundings.
The people in second sleep profile also showed signs of worse mental health, particularly related to lack of attention, but without sleep difficulties. On the contrary, they had decent overall sleep.
People who fit this profile also did not show the brain connectivity patterns observed in the first group, which suggests that these patterns are specifically related to sleep problems, and not to mental health in general.
O third profile revealed a relationship between the use of sleep aids — such as prescription medications or even teas promoted as helping sleep — and worse memory and emotional recognition, that is, the ability to identify someone’s emotional state through cues such as expressions or body language.
This may explain why people who fit this profile had decreased connectivity in brain regions involved in vision, memory and emotion.
O quarto profile was distinguished by sleeping less than 7 hours per night, the recommended minimum value. This has been associated with worse accuracy and longer reaction times on cognitive tests that measure emotional processing, language and social skills.
This profile was associated with more aggressive behaviors and increased connectivity between brain networks. According to New Scientist, previous studies on sleep deprivation have found similar increases in connectivity, suggesting this is indicative of sleep debt.
Aggressiveness also emerged in quinto profile, which was characterized by sleep disturbances, such as waking up several times during the night.
These disorders were associated with worse linguistic processing and working memory, as well as signs of worse mental health, including symptoms of anxiety and substance abuse.
Not all participants fit perfectly into a single profileexplained to New Scientist, the leader of the investigation Valeria Kebetsfrom Concordia University, in Montreal (Canada). There will also be a significant proportion of people who regularly experience good quality sleep.
