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Depression linked to ‘internal jet lag', circadian study finds

Depression linked to internal jet lag study finds

Circadian rhythms controlling sleep were out of sync in a quarter of young people with depression in this Sydney-based study. Read more

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TL;DR

A University of Sydney team tracked 69 young mental-health patients overnight in a chronobiology lab—measuring their body temperature, cortisol and melatonin—and found that almost a quarter showed an “internal jet lag” (their internal clocks were out of sync with each other) even though they hadn’t crossed time zones. Those with the biggest misalignment tended to have more severe depressive symptoms.

This is the first study to look at all three circadian markers together in people with mood disorders, and it hints that we might treat depression and bipolar by realigning body clocks. While more research is needed (they only did one sleep cycle and even some healthy controls showed misalignment), it could open up fresh ways to help young Aussies whose brains feel stuck in the wrong time zone.

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