Does the Response to a Stressful Condition in Older Adults with Life Rhythm Dysregulations Provide Evidence of the Existence of the “Dysregulation of Mood, Energy, and Social Rhythms Syndrome”?

Abstract

Objective: The COVID-19 lockdown periods have given rise to the “Dysregulation of Mood, Energy, and Social Rhythms Syndrome” (DYMERS). This syndrome is characterized by a poor regulation of biological, social, and behavioral rhythms, including sleep, nutrition, and social contacts. The purpose of this cohort study was to examine whether older adults with pre-existing DYMERS had a more negative perception of their health-related quality of life (H-QoL) during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown, regardless of the presence of concurrent mood disorders. Method: The entire study population (N = 93; age > 65 year) was categorized based on whether they exhibited dysregulated rhythms at the outset of the study. A comparison was made between DYMERS-positive individuals and DYMERS-negative individuals, and we assessed their H-QoL at the conclusion of the study. We also compared the H-QoL of individuals in the cohort who did not have a positive depression score to understand the impact of the rhythm dysregulation alone. Results: The frequency of individuals with a critical health-related quality of life score (SF12 < 25) was higher in the cohort with pre-existing DYMERS during lockdown (33.33% vs. 6.17%). This difference remained significant even when only individuals without depressive symptomatology were considered (27.27% vs. 2.60%). Conclusion: The results of this study indicate that DYMERS can exert a substantial influence on health-related quality of life (H-QoL), even when mood disturbances are not present. Additional research is required to investigate the relationship between DYMERS and other psychiatric conditions as well as its nature as a standalone disorder.

An e-Health Psychoeducation Program for Managing the Mental Health of People with Bipolar Disorder during the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Randomized Controlled Study

“…Supporting this thesis, the perception of QoL in the experimental group can be closely linked to the regulation of biological rhythms, both before and after the intervention, resulting in an improvement in QoL. This bidirectional relationship between these two parameters has been previously demonstrated [61], suggesting that an improvement in QoL can lead to better regulation of social rhythms and, consequently, the enhancement of clinical parameters [62,63]. This is unlike typical conditions, where symptoms and social functioning improve before the perception of QoL does over an extended period [52].…”

Post-Pandemic Insomnia in Healthcare Workers: A Prospective Study including Sociodemographic, Occupational and Psychosocial Variables

“…On the other hand, although the present research focuses specifically on insomnia and its evolution, it would have been interesting to contextualize insomnia symptoms within the stress experienced and the associated “Dysregulation of Mood, Energy, and Social Rhythms Syndrome” (DYMERS). This syndrome is characterized by a poor regulation of biological, social and behavioral rhythms, including nutrition, social contacts and sleep [ 69 ]. In fact, this syndrome was the ground of vulnerability for various mental health problems during the COVID-19 pandemic, including panic disorder, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder [ 70 ].…”

Associations between Sleep Disturbances, Personality Traits and Self-Regulation in a Sample of Healthy Adults

“…Consequently, it is conceivable that the present pattern of results was biased because of latent and unassessed psychological and neurophysiological factors, which might have distorted two or more variables in the same or opposite directions. Such latent variables could be a composite score of current mood, sleep patterns, social behavior and available cognitive-emotional resources [89]. Similarly, sampling via SNS should be considered as a further source of sampling bias.…”