Mental Health and Circadian Science Network

我们将建立心理健康和昼夜节律科学网络，这是一个研究人员、临床医生、患者和公众之间的新合作，将专注于推动睡眠、昼夜节律和心理健康之间的发现和创新。我们将整合研究和临床专业知识，创建一个新的网络，以确定研究的优先领域，并开展跨学科合作。从植物到人类，昼夜节律是地球上所有生命的基本特征。这些24小时节律存在于多个分子和细胞水平上，使生物体的生理和行为与每天的昼夜周期保持一致。良好同步的昼夜节律是人类健康的基础，对心理健康尤为重要。例如，正确的光照时间对于同步昼夜节律（如每日睡眠/活动周期）至关重要，但现代生活模式——如倒班工作和夜间过多的人造光——会导致节律不同步，并导致各种不利的精神和身体健康结果。这对年轻人尤其重要，因为他们可能对光引起的昼夜节律紊乱和相关的精神健康问题更敏感。近几十年来，公共卫生倡议已成功地将重点放在饮食、吸烟/酒精和运动上，但健康的睡眠和活动节奏的重要性却相对被研究界所忽视。同样，尽管人们早就知道抑郁症、双相情感障碍和精神病等精神健康障碍与睡眠/活动节律异常有关，但人们对这些关联的机制了解甚少，迄今为止，时间生物学的发现在精神健康方面的临床应用仍然有限。在与研究界和临床界协商后（并根据患者和公众的反馈和建议），我们确定了该网络的四个核心活动领域，包括：a)制定心理健康和昼夜科学的研究议程；b)制定数据收集、数据管理和数据共享标准；c)支持从事心理健康和昼夜科学交叉工作的早期职业研究人员；d)建立可持续性和新的跨学科资助申请。对于所有这些活动，McPin基金会将建立一个患者和公众参与（PPI）小组，提供战略投入和建议，确保工作与公众、临床团体和研究界的需求相关。我们的目标非常适合合伙基金。英国在心理健康、时间生物学、数据科学和睡眠/昼夜节律科学方面拥有主要的研究优势，但这些活动目前并没有很好地联系在一起：我们需要通过汇集不同的研究人员、临床医生、患者和公众来增加这些优势的价值，以最大限度地提高生产力，并在时间精神病学领域产生长期影响。

We will establish the Mental Health and Circadian Science Network, a new collaboration between researchers, clinicians, patients and the public that will be focused on driving discovery and innovation at the interface of sleep, circadian rhythms and mental health. We will integrate research and clinical expertise to create a new network that will identify priority areas for research and launch interdisciplinary collaborations.Daily (circadian) rhythms are a fundamental feature of all life on earth, from plants to humans. These 24-hour rhythms exist at multiple molecular and cellular levels and allow organisms to align their physiology and behaviours to daily cycles of light and dark. Well-synchronized circadian rhythms are fundamental for human health and are particularly important for mental health. For example, the correct timing of exposure to light is critical for synchronizing circadian rhythms (such as the daily sleep/activity cycle) but patterns of modern living - such as shift-working and excess artificial light at night - cause desynchronization of rhythms and result in a wide range of adverse mental and physical health outcomes. This is particularly important for young people, who may be more sensitive to light-induced circadian dysfunction and associated mental health problems.In recent decades, public health initiatives have successfully focused on diet, smoking/alcohol and exercise, but the importance of healthy rhythms of sleep and activity has been relatively neglected by the research community. Similarly, even though mental health disorders such as depression, bipolar disorder and psychosis have long been known to be associated with abnormal rhythms of sleep/activity, the mechanisms of these associations are poorly understood and the clinical application of discoveries in chronobiology to mental health has so far been limited.In consultation with the research and clinical communities (and based on feedback and advice from patients and the public), we have identified four core areas of activity for the network, including: a) Setting the research agenda for mental health and circadian science; b) Setting standards for data collection, data curation and data sharing; c) Supporting Early Career Researchers (ECRs) working at the intersection of mental health and circadian science; and d) Building sustainability and new interdisciplinary grant applications.For all these activities, The McPin Foundation will establish a Patient and Public Involvement (PPI) group to provide strategic input and advice, making sure that the work is relevant to the needs of the public, clinical groups and the research community.Our goals are very well suited to a partnership grant. The UK has major research strengths in mental health, chronobiology, data science and sleep/circadian science but these activities are not currently well connected: we need to add value to these strengths by bringing together a diverse group of researchers, clinicians, patients and the public to maximize productivity and deliver long-term impact in the chronopsychiatry field.