Going to bed late, waking up exhausted and sleeping on a very different schedule at weekends: for some people with depression these may be more than symptoms, and a disrupted body clock may help drive the illness. Researchers at the University of Sydney in Australia call it circadian depression. Prothom Alo reports on their study, published in the British Journal of Psychiatry.
Analysing data on more than 11,000 people with depression, the researchers identified six sleep and daily-rhythm traits, among them symptoms that rise and fall with the seasons, late bedtimes, feeling at ease staying up at night, morning exhaustion and a big gap between workday and weekend sleep, known as social jet lag. The 2,604 people, about 23 per cent, who showed at least three of the six were placed in a probable circadian depression group.
Their depression had begun at a younger age and their symptoms were more severe. Genetic analysis found a higher genetic risk linked to ADHD, bipolar disorder and insulin resistance in the group, though that does not mean they have or will develop these conditions. Participants also reported less benefit and more side effects from SSRI and SNRI antidepressants.
Co-author Jacob Crouse of the University of Sydney says depression is not the same in everyone: causes, symptoms and response to treatment can differ. But David Curtis, a psychiatrist at University College London, says the traits may simply have picked out people whose depression was already more severe. Colleen McClung of the University of Pittsburgh cautions that some participants may have had bipolar disorder.
The study has clear limits. Sleep habits and drug response were self-reported; body-clock problems were not confirmed with wearable devices or melatonin measurements. It cannot say whether disrupted sleep causes depression or depression disrupts sleep, and it did not measure depression risk in the general population.
A 2025 review of light therapy found that among more than 800 people with non-seasonal depression, over 40 per cent of those given bright light reached remission, against about 25 per cent of controls, but those trials did not select people with circadian traits. The report advises seeing a doctor when sleep problems come with long-lasting low mood or loss of interest, and not stopping medication or starting melatonin or light therapy on one's own.
Source: Prothom Alo
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