MAPPING OF CIRCASEPTAN AND CIRCADIAN CHANGES IN MOOD.

Abstract

Circadian changes in mood have been described earlier. A positive affect (PA) has been separated from a negative affect (NA), as independent components in opposite admittedly subjective directions, a circadian rhythm characterizing both aspects. Herein, the time structure (chronome) of human mood is re-examined and extended from the circadian to the circaseptan domain by a meta-analysis of data on 196 clinically healthy students who filled out the positive (PA) and negative (NA) affective scale (PANAS), consisting each of 10-item mood scales. Both PA and NA are found by cosinor to be characterized by a circaseptan, circasemiseptan, and circadian variation. The circaseptan and circasemiseptan amplitudes are found to be larger than the circadian amplitude for NA, whereas the circadian amplitude is largest for PA. Complementing differences in relative circaseptan-to-circadian prominence between PA and NA are differences in the timing of the circadian, circasemiseptan, and circaseptan components of PA and NA. An even broader spectrum of rhythms may include a circadecadal modulation. With this qualification, the information on the time structure of mood provides endpoints to be considered in any attempt to optimize psychological well-being by making sleeping, dietary, and/or other lifestyle adjustments.