Your Contribution to Science

The sleeping brain seems to be actively involved in several important functions of life. This includes learning, emotions, perception, and brain development.
It is commonly found that sleep disturbances precede and co-occur with neurodegenerative, neurodevelopmental, and mental disorders, including psychosis. These disturbances may influence the prognosis of the disorders.

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But wait...what is psychosis? Psychosis is an umbrella term characterizing a disconnection from reality. Some commonly associated symptoms include hallucinations, delusions, confusion, and disturbed thoughts. The psychosis spectrum refers to a series of disorders linked to a specific symptomatology; individuals who are at-risk for psychosis and who have schizophrenia fall into this continuum.
Currently, studies exploring how various aspects of sleep (quality, structure, electroencephalogram (EEG) characteristics) in the psychosis spectrum change over the course of time have been very limited! It is especially important to study sleep in young individuals as their brains are undergoing highly dynamic development.
Our study may help pave the way to establish associations with sleep that cause worsening in specific symptom dimensions and the onset or relapse of psychotic episodes.
The findings may provide important data to help tailor interventions to the vulnerable age-group of youths and will have implications for the development of novel therapies, targeting specific sleep disturbances or characteristics and improving cognition and quality of life in youths affected by psychosis!
Our long-term goal is to comprehend the intricate relationship between sleep and the dimension of cognition and perception to complete our understanding of the underlying mechanisms of psychosis spectrum disorders 😊

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