Publications by authors named "L Pilz"
The light/dark cycle is the main external cue to synchronize the human biological clock. Modern lifestyles typically lead to less daylight exposure and blunted 24 h-amplitude. We evaluated the association of outdoor daylight exposure (frequency, duration, regularity and shift) with chronotype estimated by sleep phase, regularity of routines, sleep, well-being (WHO-5), and depressive symptoms (PHQ-9), in a sample of 1,095 participants (81.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFA wealth of data is available from electronic health records (EHR) that are collected as part of routine clinical care in hospitals worldwide. These rich, longitudinal data offer an attractive object of study for the field of circadian medicine, which aims to translate knowledge of circadian rhythms to improve patient health. This narrative review aims to discuss opportunities for EHR in studies of circadian medicine, highlight the methodological challenges, and provide recommendations for using these data to advance the field.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFArticle Synopsis
- Depression and anxiety rates surged during the COVID-19 pandemic, prompting a study to examine how the instability of various symptoms (affective, somatic, and cognitive) relates to these mental health issues.
- Participants reported their daily symptoms over several weeks, and researchers assessed the fluctuation of these symptoms using a specific index, finding that greater instability in affective symptoms was linked to higher anxiety and depression scores.
- The study emphasizes the need for regular monitoring of symptoms and hints that establishing daily routines may help stabilize mood and improve mental health outcomes.
Among the public health recommendations for supporting mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic, many strategies had an impact on biological rhythms, like sleep hygiene, physical exercise and healthy eating habits. Considering the known relationship between circadian organization and mental health, our aim was to test the association between behavioral regularity and mental health, and its interaction with chronotype, in a large sample surveyed in Brazil. We collected longitudinal data using online questionnaires that assessed sociodemographic characteristics, behavioral routines, mental health (PHQ-9, GAD-7, WHO-5 scales), and chronotype estimation based on midpoint of sleep on free days - MSF (μMCTQ), in a sample of 1390 participants (81% females).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFStudy Objective: To investigate whether poor sleep quality is associated with pre-term birth (PTB) risk, overall and independent of sleep apnea and habitual snoring.
Methods: We used longitudinal data from the Washington University Prematurity Research Cohort to investigate the association between poor sleep quality (defined as a Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index > 5) and PTB, overall and independent of sleep apnea and snoring (defined by the Berlin questionnaire and prior sleep clinic attendance). Associations were investigated for sleep quality early and throughout pregnancy.