---
title: How does sleep change across the menstrual cycle in women with psychiatric conditions and suicidal thinking?
description: Sleep varies across the menstrual cycle in women with psychiatric conditions. These patterns align with changes in mood and suicidal thinking, with some women
url: https://niyora.com/research/papers/characterizing-nonlinear-heterogeneous-sleep-trajectories-across-the-menstrual-2026/
---

- [Niyora](https://niyora.com/)
- [Research](https://niyora.com/research/)
- [Library](https://niyora.com/research/library/)
- How does sleep change across the menstrual cycle in women with psychiatric conditions and suicidal thinking?

Survey study, 2026

# How does sleep change across the menstrual cycle in women with psychiatric conditions and suicidal thinking?

Sleep varies across the menstrual cycle in women with psychiatric conditions. These patterns align with changes in mood and suicidal thinking, with some women having worse sleep around their period or in the luteal phase. This suggests sleep monitoring may help identify higher-risk periods.

 Moderate study design

142 women with psychiatric conditions (average age 26.59 years) who had recent suicidal thinking

## What they did

142 women (average age 26.59) in psychiatric care who had recent suicidal thinking tracked their sleep daily and wore devices to measure sleep objectively across 1 to 3 menstrual cycles. Researchers aligned measurements to ovulation and menstruation to track patterns across the cycle.

## What they found

Most sleep measures showed cyclical changes across the menstrual cycle. Different groups of women had different patterns: some experienced worse sleep around their period or during the luteal phase, while others showed no cycle-related pattern. Sleep patterns closely matched mood symptoms and suicidal thinking patterns.

## What it means for you

In women with psychiatric conditions, sleep may change with the menstrual cycle and these changes connect to mood and suicide risk. Monitoring sleep across the cycle could help identify times when women need more support. The findings need to be tested in larger groups to confirm.

142

women tracked sleep daily

39

wore sleep-tracking devices

26.59

average age in years

## About the study

Original title Characterizing Nonlinear Heterogeneous Sleep Trajectories across the Menstrual Cycle in a Transdiagnostic Psychiatric Population Authors Nagpal A, Patterson A, Ross A et al. Journal Sleep Year 2026 Study design Survey study Participants 142 Read the paper [doi.org/10.1093/sleep/zsag220](https://doi.org/10.1093/sleep/zsag220)

## Topics

[Menstrual cycle and mood](https://niyora.com/research/topics/condition-cycle-mood/)[Suicidality](https://niyora.com/research/topics/symptom-suicidality/)[Sleep and insomnia](https://niyora.com/research/topics/symptom-sleep/)[Pain and headache](https://niyora.com/research/topics/symptom-pain/)[Apps and digital interventions](https://niyora.com/research/topics/treatment-digital-health/)[Relationships and partners](https://niyora.com/research/topics/life-area-relationships/)

Research tells you what helps on average. Niyora helps on the day it hits.

Calm down, see it another way, and decide what to say, with a PMS and PMDD app built by a doctor.

## Related studies

Cohort study, 2026

Does sleeping longer improve mood and fitness in elite athletes?

Survey study, 2026

How do pain, sleep quality, and appetite change across the menstrual cycle?

Survey study, 2024

Does poor sleep and period problems affect teen mental health?

Survey study, 2013

Are menstrual symptoms common in middle-aged women and do they relate to hot flushes?

Survey study, 2023

Does childhood trauma increase the risk of PMDD?

Survey study, 2020

Do smartphones affect menstrual symptoms in young women?

Ask AI about this page

Copy prompt

ChatGPT

↗

Claude

↗

Perplexity

↗

Google AI Mode

↗

Grok

↗