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Updated: Sep 23, 2025

Human Circadian Phenotyping and Diurnal Performance Testing in the Real World
Published on: April 7, 2020
The Mind After Midnight: Nocturnal Wakefulness, Behavioral Dysregulation, and Psychopathology
Andrew S Tubbs1, Fabian-Xosé Fernandez2, Michael A Grandner1
1Sleep and Health Research Program, Department of Psychiatry, University of Arizona College of Medicine-Tucson, Tucson, AZ, United States.
Abstract:
Sufficient sleep with minimal interruption during the circadian/biological night supports daytime cognition and emotional regulation. Conversely, disrupted sleep involving significant nocturnal wakefulness leads to cognitive and behavioral dysregulation. Most studies to-date have examined how fragmented or insufficient sleep affects next-day functioning, but recent work highlights changes in cognition and behavior that occur when someone is awake during the night. This review summarizes the evidence for day-night alterations in maladaptive behaviors, including suicide, violent crime, and substance use, and examines how mood, reward processing, and executive function differ during nocturnal wakefulness. Based on this evidence, we propose the Mind after Midnight hypothesis in which attentional biases, negative affect, altered reward processing, and prefrontal disinhibition interact to promote behavioral dysregulation and psychiatric disorders.
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