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MINI REVIEW article
Front. Hum. Neurosci.
Sec. Brain Health and Clinical Neuroscience
Volume 18 - 2024 |
doi: 10.3389/fnhum.2024.1441565
This article is part of the Research Topic Current Research and Future Development of Neuropsychology View all 5 articles
Mind wandering, poor sleep, and negative affect: a threefold vicious cycle?
Provisionally accepted- University Hospital Bonn, Bonn, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany
Mind wandering (MW) is intricately linked to sleep and affect, bearing clinical relevance for various psychiatric conditions, notably attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder, depression, and anxiety disorders. Most reviews concur that the relationship between disturbed sleep and negative affect is bidirectional. The directional relationships between MW propensity and disturbed sleep, as well as MW propensity and negative affect, are less clear. Therefore, this brief review aims to examine the limited studies that have directly explored temporally sequential relationships. These studies provide clear evidence for an impact of affect on MW and of MW on sleep, along with less unequivocal evidence for an influence of MW on affect and sleep on MW. Collectively, these individual reinforcement loops may constitute a threefold vicious cycle, which may contribute to the development and perpetuation of psychiatric disorders. Available data convincingly suggest an impact cycle in the direction "MW propensity -> disturbed sleep -> negative affect -> MW propensity", while evidence for the inverse impact cycle is less pronounced.
Keywords: mind wandering, Affect, mood, emotion, Sleep, Depression, rumination, Anxiety Disorders
Received: 31 May 2024; Accepted: 26 Aug 2024.
Copyright: © 2024 Fell. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Juergen Fell, University Hospital Bonn, Bonn, 53127, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany
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