Late Bedtime May Cause Less Control Over OCD Symptoms

A late bedtime is associated with lower perceived control of obsessive thoughts, according to research from Binghamton University, State University of New York.

Meredith E. Coles, Ph.D., a professor of psychology at Binghamton, and Jessica Schubert, a former graduate student, monitored the sleep patterns of 20 individuals diagnosed with obsessive-compulsive disorder and 10 individuals with subthreshold OCD symptoms during one week.

The researchers found that the previous night’s bedtime significantly predicted participants’ perceived ability to control their obsessive thoughts and compulsive behavior on the subsequent day.

Participants completed sleep diaries and daily ratings of perceived degree of control over obsessive thoughts and ritualized behaviors. On average, participants in the study went to bed around 12:30 a.m. Patients who met the criteria for delayed sleep phase disorder, about 40 percent of the sample, went to bed around 3 a.m.

Coles was surprised to discover that it matters when people sleep, not only how many hours of sleep they get. “This seems to be very specific to the circadian component of when you sleep. There are negative consequences of sleeping at the wrong times.”

Coles is collecting pilot data using lightboxes to shift participants’ bedtimes to determine whether the change reduces their OCD symptoms and improves their ability to resist intrusive thoughts and compulsions.

“Later Bedtime Is Associated With Decrements in Perceived Control of Obsessions and Compulsions” was presented at the annual meeting of the Associated Professional Sleep Societies in June. ■