Heather Cleland Woods

#Sleepyteens: Social media use in adolescence is associated with poor sleep quality, anxiety, depression and low self-esteem

This study examined how social media use related to sleep quality, self-esteem, anxiety and depression in 467 Scottish adolescents. We measured overall social media use, nighttime-specific social media use, emotional investment in social media, sleep quality, self-esteem and levels of anxiety and depression. Adolescents who used social media more - both overall and at night - and those who were more emotionally invested in social media experienced poorer sleep quality, lower self-esteem and higher levels of anxiety and depression. Nighttime-specific social media use predicted poorer sleep quality after controlling for anxiety, depression and self-esteem. These findings contribute to the growing body of evidence that social media use is related to various aspects of wellbeing in adolescents. In addition, our results indicate that nighttime-specific social media use and emotional investment in social media are two important factors that merit further investigation in relation to adolescent sleep and wellbeing.

Sleep-related attentional bias in insomnia: A state-of-the-science review

Prominent models of insomnia posit that sleep-related attentional bias plays an important role in the development and maintenance of insomnia. Here we conduct the first systematic review of the sleep-related attentional bias construct, indexed through reaction time-based experimental tasks. Literature search identified 13 studies that met pre-defined inclusion/exclusion criteria. Included studies involved between-group comparisons (poor sleepers versus controls), as well as sleep manipulations and correlational investigations with healthy sleepers. For studies involving comparisons between poor sleepers and healthy controls, effect size estimates were computed for task-relevant dependent variables. Six of the nine studies comparing poor sleepers and controls revealed statistically significant group differences in support of a differential sleep-related attentional bias (medium-to-large effect sizes), with flicker, dot-probe and Posner tasks being most sensitive to group effects. Due to the paucity of studies and variability in design and measurement, no conclusions could be reached regarding manipulation or induction of attentional bias in good sleepers. Results from the relatively small number of studies support the presence of sleep-related attentional bias in insomnia; however, its role in the development and/or maintenance of insomnia remains to be elucidated. We set out a research agenda aimed at advancing the understanding of sleep-related attention bias.

The clock as a focus of selective attention in those with primary insomnia: An experimental study using a modified Posner paradigm

Espie and colleagues [(2006). The attention-intention-effort pathway in the development of psychophysiological insomnia: a theoretical review. Sleep Medicine Reviews, 10, 215-245] propose a route into psychophysiological insomnia along the attention-intention-effort pathway which focuses on the inhibition of sleep-wake automaticity. A contributing factor to this is selective attention to sleep (alongside explicit intention to sleep and effort in the sleep engagement process). Following on from previous work on selective attention to sleep [Marchetti, L. M., Biello, S. M., Broomfield, N. M., MacMahon, K. M. A., & Espie, C. A. (2006). Who is pre-occupied with sleep?. A comparison of attention bias in people with psychphysiological insomnia, delayed sleep phase syndrome and good sleepers using the induced change blindness paradigm. Journal of Sleep Research, 15, 212-221; MacMahon, K., Broomfield, N., Macphee, L., & Espie, C. A. (2006). Attention bias for sleep related stimuli in primary insomnia and delayed sleep phase syndrome using the dot-probe task. Sleep, 29, 11] and considering the importance of monitoring both internal and external cues in the maintenance of insomnia, as highlighted in the cognitive model of insomnia [Harvey, A. G. (2002). A cognitive model of insomnia. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 40, 869-893], a cognitive probe task was employed to investigate further the role of the clock as a focus of selective attention in those with primary insomnia. A 2 x 2 between participants design comparing reaction time of individuals with primary insomnia (n=22) and normal sleepers (n=22) on a modified Posner paradigm. Responses obtained from a computer task presenting times which fall within a normal sleep period were analysed. Individuals with primary insomnia demonstrated delayed disengagement to the clock (F(1,84)=6.9, p<0.05) which is taken as further support for previous research demonstrating that individuals with primary insomnia exhibit an attentional bias to sleep related stimuli. These results lend support to the attention-intention-effort model (Espie et al., 2006) and the cognitive model (Harvey, 2002) both of which recognise the importance of selective attention towards salient stimuli in the maintenance of insomnia. Possible clinical implications of attentional bias to sleep as a marker of psychopathology progression and treatment efficacy are discussed.

What are you looking at? Moving toward an attentional timeline in insomnia: a novel semantic eye tracking study.

STUDY OBJECTIVES To date, cognitive probe paradigms have been used in different guises to obtain reaction time measurements suggestive of an attention bias towards sleep in insomnia. This study adopts a methodology which is novel to sleep research to obtain a continual record of where the eyes-and therefore attention-are being allocated with regard to sleep and neutral stimuli. DESIGN A head mounted eye tracker (Eyelink II,SR Research, Ontario, Canada) was used to monitor eye movements in respect to two words presented on a computer screen, with one word being a sleep positive, sleep negative, or neutral word above or below a second distracter pseudoword. Probability and reaction times were the outcome measures. PARTICIPANTS Sleep group classification was determined by screening interview and PSQI (> 8 = insomnia, < 3 = good sleeper) score. MEASUREMENTS AND RESULTS Those individuals with insomnia took longer to fixate on the target word and remained fixated for less time than the good sleep controls. Word saliency had an effect with longer first fixations on positive and negative sleep words in both sleep groups, with largest effect sizes seen with the insomnia group. CONCLUSIONS This overall delay in those with insomnia with regard to vigilance and maintaining attention on the target words moves away from previous attention bias work showing a bias towards sleep, particularly negative, stimuli but is suggestive of a neurocognitive deficit in line with recent research.

Information processing bias in insomnia: research evidence and implications for therapy

Objective: Does snoring during pregnancy influence development of pre-eclampsia?Method: Five hundred and three pregnant women were presented a questionnaire concerning snoring, daytime sleepiness a ...withdrawn O141 Sleep-wake cycle in ballet dancers M. GLOS, T. PENZEL, J. STRAUCH, C. THEOBALD and I. FIETZE Interdisciplinary Center of Sleep Medicine, Charité-Universitaetsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany and Staatsballett Berlin, Berlin, Germany Introduction: Ballet dancers are top athletes and artists with extreme demands on their body and intellectual functions. In this group a normal work schedule on a weekly basis is absent and moreover, half of the week working days last until late evenings. Methods: We investigated the sleep-wake cycle over a period of three months prior to a premiere of a new performance by using actigraphy in 28 (17w, 11 m) ballet dancers (mean age 27 5 years, BMI 19 2) of the ‘‘Staatsballett Berlin’’, a big independent ballet institution of the three institutionalized opera houses in Berlin, Germany. Before starting the actigraphy recording (Actiwatch, Cambridge Neurotechnology Ltd, Cambridge, UK) which was accompanied by filling in activity diaries and sleep logs on a daily basis, a physical examination as well as a sleep medical examination and ambulatory polygraphy (Embletta PDS, Embla Systems, Broomfield, CO, USA) was performed. Results: Out of the 28 ballet dancers who were included, 24 of them completed the study after three months. Altogether we found a regular sleep-wake cycle but no circaseptan rhythm in this population. In addition a delayed sleep phase was predominant. In the course of three month the sleep efficacy (SE) was reduced significantly (82 to 77 percent, Po0.01) without changes in the amount of movements and total sleep time (TST) during the night. These findings were independent of the gender of the ballet dancers. The parameters SE and TST are generally lower than in the general age matched German population. These results were accompanied by diminished mental health scores (SF12 questionnaire) and diminished concentration capabilities (d2 test). Conclusion: The preparation time of a new performance in the course of three month caused additional stress in the investigated ballet dancers which was apparent in a diminished sleep quality. In order to guarantee a good status of health and the high degree of physical and mental capability a good management of rest and a activity is needed. As a consequence a dedicated room for rest has been installed at the opera for the ballet dancers. r 2008 European Sleep Research Society, JSR 17 (Suppl. 1), 1–271 Spotlight on Circadian Clock Works On and Off Stage 81

Selective Processing of Sleep-Related Words in Psychophysiological Insomnia: A Novel Eye-Tracking Study

Objectives: The aim of this study was to move forward from: ‘‘snapshot’’ cognitive probe studies used to establish selective attention in insomnia and understand processing of salient sleep words over time within the context of approach and avoidance. Methods: The novel methodology to insomnia research, eye tracking, was used to monitor the eye movements of individuals with psychophysiological insomnia (PI) and good sleepers (GS) to sleep positive, sleep negative and neutral words over a three second period. Results: The data shows that individuals with insomnia are less accurate [F(1.39) = 4.6, P < .05], take longer to fixate on the target word [F(1.39) = 5.0, P < .05] and take longer to move from distractor to target word [F(1.39) = 3.9, P < .05]. There is a trend towards significance suggestive of faster processing of positive sleep words compared to sleep negative or neutral words [F(2.78) = 2.9, P = .07]. Conclusions: Irrespective of word salience, the PI would appear to show detrimental processing overall compared to GS. Interesting questions arise within this context of whether this is an artefact of fatigue or there is indeed a processing impairment. The trend toward faster processing of sleep positive words would suggest that there is a possible selective processing impairment.