Changing sleep patterns linked to cognitive decline and dementia

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Two large cohorts (one UK, one Chinese) found shifting from optimal to non-optimal sleep or stopping napping linked to higher dementia risk. But reverse causation limits certainty about prevention.

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Only a swipe away: App-based support for reducing distress in university students

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This innovative Australian trial suggests that different mental health app interventions worked better depending on students’ distress severity. One size doesn’t fit all, but which apps should students choose?

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We need to improve sleep assessment and treatment in patients with severe mental illness

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Emiliana Tonini looks at how sleep is recorded and treated in people with serious mental illness—and how it affects their engagement with services. The study finds that sleep is rarely part of routine clinical assessment, and recommended sleep treatments are hardly ever used.

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Is a sleep intervention delivered by non-expert practitioners feasible for youth mental health?

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In her debut blog, Emma Sullivan explores a new paper looking at the feasibility of a CBT for insomnia intervention (delivered by non-expert practitioners) for young people with mental health difficulties.

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Here comes the sun: associations between daily light exposure and psychiatric disorders

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Emiliana Tonini summarises a large-scale cross-sectional study, which suggests that encouraging individuals to increase their exposure to bright natural light during the day and minimise exposure to artificial light at night may help with our mental health.

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Building bridges between schools and mental health services to improve youth mental health support

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In her latest blog, Ariadna Albajara Saenz summarises a recent paper reporting on two pilot trials exploring partnerships between schools and mental health services to test the utilisation and acceptability of specialist liaison and teacher skills training.

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