The Rhythm is Gonna Get You: Social Rhythms, Sleep, Depressive, and Anxiety Symptoms

Social rhythmicity refers to the regularity with which one engages in social and lifestyle activities. Social rhythms have important implications for health and well-being including the prevention and treatment of mental health disorders. Existing research on social rhythmicity has focused on the link with bipolar disorder and, to a lesser extent, with depression. However, it is unclear how social rhythms are tied to anxiety disorders or what might mediate this association. Sleep shows potential as an underlying link, particularly sleep behaviors and sleep thoughts.

The current study used a sample of 3,284 adults to examine the role of sleep thoughts and behaviors as mediators of the association between social rhythms and mental health symptoms of depression and anxiety.

Parallel mediation models revealed that greater social rhythmicity is directly associated with fewer depressive and anxiety symptoms, and that healthier sleep behaviors and thoughts mediate this association.

This study used cross-sectional data and was limited in racial and ethnic diversity.

The findings highlight the critical role lifestyle regularity plays in depressive and anxious symptom pathology in a large sample of adults across the lifespan. Results also highlight the complementary roles for both sleep behaviors and thoughts by demonstrating their concurrent links between regularity and mental health. Future work is needed to further disentangle the association of these constructs with mental health.