Subjective Perception of Sleep, but not its Objective Quality, is Associated with Immediate Postpartum Mood Disturbances in Healthy Women

Apr 17, 2010Sleep

How women’s feelings about their sleep, but not actual sleep quality, relate to mood changes right after childbirth

AI simplified

Circadian Biology on OpenScience ↗PubMed ↗DOI ↗

Abstract

On average, 45.95% of women experienced a deterioration of mood one week postpartum.

Objective nighttime sleep significantly worsened after delivery, with decreased total sleep time and sleep efficiency.
Daytime napping behavior increased significantly in the week following delivery.
Mood improved across all scales after delivery, despite a substantial portion of women experiencing worsened mood.
There was little relationship between objective nighttime sleep measured before and after delivery and postpartum mood.
Subjective perceptions of sleep, including nighttime sleep quality and daytime sleep-related dysfunction, were significant predictors of postpartum mood.

AI simplified

STUDY OBJECTIVES: This study investigated whether there was a relationship between disrupted sleep and postpartum mood disturbances in women during the week after delivery.

DESIGN: Sleep and mood were measured during the third trimester (Time-1) and one week postpartum (Time-2) in a 2-stage longitudinal design.

SETTING: Participants were recruited from an antenatal clinic in a regional Melbourne hospital.

PARTICIPANTS: Forty-four healthy women at low risk for postpartum depression.

INTERVENTIONS: N/A.

MEASUREMENTS AND RESULTS: Objective sleep was measured by actigraphy and subjective sleep by the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index; mood was assessed by the Depression Anxiety Stress Scale, the Hospital Anxiety Depression Scale, and the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule. Sleep and mood questionnaires were administered at Time-1 and Time-2. Wrist actigraphy was collected for one week at both times. After delivery, both objective and subjective nighttime sleep significantly worsened with decreased total sleep time and sleep efficiency, while daytime napping behavior significantly increased. On average, mood improved across all scales after delivery, although 45.95% of the sample experienced deterioration of mood. Regression analyses showed little relationship between Time-1 and Time-2 objective nighttime sleep, and postpartum mood. Variables that related to both Time-1 and Time-2 subjective perception of sleep, including subjective nighttime sleep, sleep-related daytime dysfunction, and daytime napping behavior, were significant predictors of postpartum mood.

CONCLUSIONS: The perception of poor sleep, and the conscious awareness of its impact during wake-time, might share a stronger relationship with the occurrence of immediate postpartum mood disturbances than actual sleep quality and quantity.

Full Text

Full text is available at the source.

View full text ↗

Subjective Perception of Sleep, but not its Objective Quality, is Associated with Immediate Postpartum Mood Disturbances in Healthy Women

Abstract

Full Text

You found one interesting study. We’ll send the next 7.

what lands in your inbox each week:

Recent issues from the circadian biology brief

Abstract

Full Text

Related papers

You found one interesting study. We’ll send the next 7.

what lands in your inbox each week:

Recent issues from the circadian biology brief