J Korean Soc Biol Ther Psychiatry.  2020 Oct;26(3):177-183.

Measurement of Circadian Rhythms in the Research of Psychiatric Disorders

• Kim SY
• Moon E
• Jeong HJ

Abstract

The circadian rhythms have been gradually important in psychiatric field. Several studies have shown that major psychiatric disorders, such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorders, and dementia, were highly associated with the abnormalities of circadian rhythms. Circadian rhythms might have an influence on the pathogenesis and prognosis of psychiatric disorders. Understanding the impact of circadian rhythms on psychiatric disorders became crucial to psychiatrists. Therefore, this review investigated the types of the circadian rhythms to be used in psychiatric field. The measurement of circadian rhythms were performed by several ways, such as sleep diary, self-reported scales, heart rate, heart rate variability, polysomnography, electroencephalography, actigraphy, melatonin, cortisol. Using these data related to circadian rhythms might be utilized to evaluate the relevance of the pathogenesis in psychiatric disorders and predict the treatment response and prognosis of illness. Furthermore, if the real-time monitoring of circadian rhythms is possible, the novel diagnostic and therapeutic model using circadian rhythms could be applied in psychiatric area.

Keyword

Circadian rhythm; Sleep; Melatonin; Cortisol; Psychiatric disorders