Randomised Evaluation of Sleep Treatment to Ease Depression (RESTED)
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Targeting insomnia to treat depression: An explanatory randomised controlled trial of sleep restriction therapy
IRAS ID
318628
Contact name
Simon D. Kyle
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of Oxford
ISRCTN Number
ISRCTN73764282
Duration of Study in the UK
2 years, 5 months, 31 days
Research summary
Depression is a very common and impairing condition. Current treatments include antidepressant medication and psychological therapy. Both can be effective, but more than one-third of people do not benefit from these treatments. There are reasons to think that poor sleep is an important contributor to depression, and that if sleep could be improved, depression would improve too.
Previous research has shown that we can improve sleep quality using a behavioural treatment called ‘sleep scheduling therapy’. This treatment involves reviewing the patient’s current sleep pattern and supporting them to follow a new, personalised sleep schedule. We want to find out whether using this treatment to improve sleep will also improve depression and how it works.
We plan to recruit patients from general practice who experience symptoms of both insomnia and depression. Patients who are interested in taking part in the study will be asked to complete two short questionnaires and a phone interview with a member of the research team to determine if the study is suitable for them. Eligible participants will be allocated at random, by a computer, to one of two groups. One group will receive the behavioural sleep treatment alongside any existing treatment they are receiving for depression or sleep. This will involve meeting with a nurse each week for 6 weeks and following a personalised daily sleep schedule. The second group will not receive a specific treatment as part of the study but will continue to receive any existing treatment for depression or sleep. All participants will complete assessments at baseline and at 1 month, 2 months and 6 months. We will measure symptoms of depression using a questionnaire and ask participants to complete computerised tasks that assess responses to emotional words and images. We will measure sleep quality using questionnaires, daily sleep diaries and actigraphy.
REC name
London - Surrey Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
22/LO/0897
Date of REC Opinion
15 Dec 2022
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion