Circadian Health In Psychosis And Depression (CHIP-D) - version 1
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Sleep and Circadian Health Disturbances in Psychosis and Depression: The Cascading Impacts of Impairments in Cognitive Control
IRAS ID
357530
Contact name
Sukhwinder Shergill
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of Kent
Duration of Study in the UK
3 years, 1 months, 1 days
Research summary
The importance of sleep for best biological functioning and performance is well established in the literature. Recent approaches described sleep health as a marker of overall health, an acknowledgement that highlights public health importance of sleep and circadian health research and interventions. This project contributes to developments in this area and addresses the role of sleep and circadian health in prompting and prolonging adverse mental health outcomes in healthy and clinical populations. We aim to understand the physical and mental impairments resulting from sleep and circadian health disturbances in three groups: healthy participants, shift workers and patients with depression and psychosis. In a pioneering approach, we consider shift work as a naturalistic manipulation of the impacts on sleep, cognition, psychotic-like and emotional symptoms. This design allows to explore a model of sequential comorbidity with participants with increased vulnerability from sleep disturbances to mental health disorders. Furthermore, we propose that this increased vulnerability associated with sleep and circadian health disturbances is intensified by increasing impairments in cognitive control, i.e., we propose that cognitive control mediates the impacts of sleep and circadian disturbances on mental health.
The project adopts an innovative approach to sleep and circadian health assessment using a combination of ‘real world’ assessments that participants complete while continuing their daily activities at home or at work. We combine passive assessments with wearables such as actigraphy, along with diaries and short scales delivered across the day via a smartphone application. Furthermore, the project aims to capture fluctuations in sleep and circadian health across seasons identifying four critical periods of assessment.
Finally, we propose that understanding the dynamic relationship between sleep, circadian markers, cognition and mental health outcomes is critical to meet the outstanding challenge of normalising sleep and circadian rhythm related behaviour in both healthy and clinical populations.
REC name
London - Chelsea Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
25/LO/0581
Date of REC Opinion
7 Nov 2025
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion