Author ORCID Identifier
Yitong Huang: 0000-0002-5200-8077
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
11-16-2021
Publication Title
Frontiers in Digital Health
Abstract
Mobile measures of human circadian rhythms (CR) are needed in the age of chronotherapy. Two wearable measures of CR have recently been validated: one that uses heart rate to extract circadian rhythms that originate in the sinoatrial node of the heart, and another that uses activity to predict the laboratory gold standard and central circadian pacemaker marker, dim light melatonin onset (DLMO). We first find that the heart rate markers of normal real-world individuals align with laboratory DLMO measurements when we account for heart rate phase error. Next, we expand upon previous work that has examined sleep patterns or chronotypes during the COVID-19 lockdown by studying the effects of social distancing on circadian rhythms. In particular, using data collected from the Social Rhythms app, a mobile application where individuals upload their wearable data and receive reports on their circadian rhythms, we compared the two circadian phase estimates before and after social distancing. Interestingly, we found that the lockdown had different effects on the two ambulatory measurements. Before the lockdown, the two measures aligned, as predicted by laboratory data. After the lockdown, when circadian timekeeping signals were blunted, these measures diverged in 70% of subjects (with circadian rhythms in heart rate, or CRHR, becoming delayed). Thus, while either approach can measure circadian rhythms, both are needed to understand internal desynchrony. We also argue that interventions may be needed in future lockdowns to better align separate circadian rhythms in the body.
Keywords
circadian rhythm, heart rate, internal desynchrony, social distancing, wearables
Volume
3
DOI
10.3389/fdgth.2021.727504
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Rights
© 2021 Huang, Mayer, Walch, Bowman, Sen, Goldstein, Tyler and Forger.
Recommended Citation
Huang, Yitong; Mayer, Caleb; Walch, Olivia J.; Bowman, Clark; Sen, Srijan; Goldstein, Cathy; Tyler, Jonathan; and Forger, Daniel B., "Distinct Circadian Assessments from Wearable Data Reveal Social Distancing Promoted Internal Desynchrony Between Circadian Markers" (2021). Mathematics Sciences: Faculty Publications, Smith College, Northampton, MA.
https://scholarworks.smith.edu/mth_facpubs/189
Comments
Archived as published.