Learning Center Series: Sleep and Mental Health

Overview

This curated Learning Center Series from World Sleep Society collects over 17 hours of presentations exploring the relationship between sleep health, sleep disorders, and mental health across the lifespan. The presentations were recorded during World Sleep 2025 in Singapore and include two full courses, a keynote address, and a track of research symposia. Additional focus is dedicated to consumer health trackers as more patients integrate these devices into their daily life.

Find summaries, presentations, and speakers for each session in the Series Outline tab. Watch the sessions in the Presentations tab.

Audience

The series is intended for psychiatrists and sleep medicine practitioners, bridging the psychiatry and sleep medicine specialties. Those who are newer to sleep medicine are encouraged to begin with the Sleep, psychiatry and mental health course. Those interested in the latest research at the intersection of psychiatry and sleep can begin with the symposium sessions.

Included topics

• Sleep and psychiatric disorders 

 • Sleep loss and cognitive and emotional impact 

 • Adolescent sleep and mental health 

 • Advances in behavioral and psychological treatment for insomnia 

 • Sleep disturbances across mental health conditions 

 • Wake and sleep regulation in psychiatric disorders

Access is provided by the Learning Center as part of World Sleep Society’s commitment to advancing global sleep health education.

Registration Rates

Registration is free for World Sleep Society members and nonmembers. 

All registrations will need a free online account with World Sleep Society to register. 

Create your World Sleep Society account. For additional assistance visit the help page. 

Membership questions? Email info@worldsleepsociety.org. 

Sleep and Mental Health Series Outline

Over 17 hours of content in sleep and mental health is available in the series. Find the outline of presentations below, including summaries, speakers, and presentation titles. 

Course: Sleep, psychiatry and mental health

Chairs: Ahmed BaHammam (Saudi Arabia), Charles Morin (Canada) • Duration: 218 Minutes

This course discusses how sleep plays a role in emotional regulation and the reciprocal relationship between sleep disturbances and mental health. The course will focus on different psychiatric disorders and their relationship with sleep.

Presentations

• Epidemiology of sleep and psychiatric disorders: Charles Morin (Canada)
• The bi-directional relationships between insomnia and major depression: Clinical and diagnostic: Christoph Nissen (Switzerland)
• Sleep and post-traumatic stress disorders: Laura Palagini (Italy)
• Neuropsychiatric manifestations in narcolepsy: Ahmed BaHammam (Saudi Arabia)
• Pharmacological and behavioral management of sleep disturbances in psychiatric disorders: Christoph Nissen (Switzerland)

Course: Wearables and sleep trackers

Chairs: Michael Chee (Singapore), Cathy Goldstein (United States) • Duration: 226 Minutes

Persons worldwide track sleep with ubiquitous fitness trackers and smart watches. A large body of research now demonstrates that consumer geared health tracking devices have comparable sleep estimation capabilities to FDA cleared actigraphy. This course provides practical guidance on device selection and use.

Presentations

• Introduction: Michael Chee (Singapore)
• Multi-sensor wearable health trackers: Measurements and outputs: Mathias Baumert (Australia)
• Interpreting performance evaluation studies: Choosing the right device for your needs: Ju Lynn Ong (Singapore)
• Sleep tracker use in healthy individuals: Kelly Baron (United States)

Keynote: Sleep and development: Exploring the impact of sleep on mental health in children

Speaker: Tiina Paunio (Finland) • Duration: 44 Minutes

The presentation examined how infant sleep and brain development are closely connected. Using Finnish longitudinal studies, researchers found that sleep patterns stabilize during the first two years, while sleep problems in infancy were linked to emotional, behavioral, and attention difficulties later in childhood.

Presentations

• Introduction: Markku Partinen (Finland)
• Sleep and development: Exploring the impact of sleep on mental health in children: Tiina Paunio (Finland)

Symposium: Sleep loss increases intrusive memories: But how?

Chairs: Sean Drummond (Australia), Jessica Ogden (Australia) • Duration: 89 Minutes

The symposium explores how sleep influences intrusive memories, a key symptom of PTSD. Research suggests sleep disturbances contribute to PTSD, but the underlying mechanisms remain unclear. Presentations will examine factors such as disrupted sleep, emotion regulation, memory consolidation, and executive control using diverse experimental approaches and clinical populations. The symposium features recent findings from an international, multidisciplinary group of researchers.

Presentations

• The impact of time of day and sleep architecture on the frequency and intensity of intrusions following an analogue trauma exposure: Jessica Paterson (Australia)
• Cognitive consequences of local sleep: From mental fatigue to hypersomnia's: Arthur LeCoz (France)
• Day-to-day relationships between sleep and intrusive memories following experimental trauma exposure: Jessica Ogden (Australia)
• The effects of sleep restriction and insomnia disorder on intrusive memories for emotional scenes: Tony Cunningham (United States)

Symposium: Adolescent sleep and mental health: From challenges to solutions

Chairs: Shirley Xin Li (Hong Kong), Michael Gradisar (Sweden) • Duration: 92 Minutes

This symposium examines how poor sleep affects adolescent mental health, cognition, and school performance. Researchers from Taiwan, Norway, China, and Hong Kong will present findings on sleep quality, insomnia subtypes, anxiety, and interventions such as motivational interviewing and cognitive behavioral therapy. The session aims to highlight both the challenges adolescents face and practical strategies to improve sleep and well-being.

Presentations

• Caught between books and beds: The impact of sleep deprivation and sleep disturbance on Taiwanese adolescents' mental health: Ya-wen Jan (Taiwan)
• Adolescent sleep and implications for school performance and mental health - Results from a Norwegian cohort of older adolescents: Ingvild West Saxvig (Norway)
• New subtypes of insomnia and their association with mental health in children and adolescents: Guanghai Wang (China)
• Late owl phenomenon and sleep deprivation in adolescents: is advancing bedtime effective: Sijing Chen (Hong Kong)
• Comorbid insomnia and anxiety in youth- Shall we tackle sleep or anxiety problem in treatment: Xiao Li (Hong Kong)

Symposium: Consumer sleep technology - Usefulness and reliability for patients and practitioners

Chair: Walter McNicholas (Ireland) • Duration: 91 Minutes

This symposium explores the growing use of consumer sleep technologies (CSTs), such as wearables and sleep apps, in monitoring and managing sleep problems. While CSTs offer accessible alternatives to traditional sleep medicine, concerns remain about their accuracy, validation, and commercial bias. Experts from multiple countries will discuss the benefits, risks, patient perspectives, new innovations, and challenges of integrating CSTs into sleep care.

Presentations

• Overviewing the current use of consumer sleep technologies by both the patients and healthcare professionals: Walter McNicholas (Ireland)
• How patients perceive and use consumer sleep technology: Michael Grandner (United States)
• Innovations on consumer sleep technology for sleep tracking and scoring: Erna Sif Arnardottir (Iceland)
• Innovations on consumer sleep technology for the sleep-disordered breathing: Timo Leppanen (Finland)
• Sponsorship bias and lack of validation- Exploring the negative effects of commercial aspects on the validation of consumer sleep technologies: Gabriel Natan Pires (Brazil)

Symposium: Novel developments in psychotherapy for insomnia

Chairs: Elisabeth Hertenstein (Switzerland), Kai Spiegelhalder (Germany) • Duration:93 Minutes

This symposium focuses on improving treatment for chronic insomnia beyond standard CBT-I. Researchers will present innovations such as app-based CBT-I with wearable feedback, Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT-I) for patients who do not respond to CBT-I, brief bedtime-restriction therapy, and internet-based stepped-care approaches to expand access and improve effectiveness of insomnia treatment.

Presentations

• NEW SLEEP: using accurate and daily sleep feedback in home environments in order to improve sleep: Manuel Schabus (Austria)
• Acceptance and commitment therapy versus cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia: Outcomes from a RCT and predictors of treatment response: Renatha El-Rafihi Ferreira (Brazil)
• Addressing non-response and improving implementation as primary challenges for the future oh psychotherapy for insomnia: Elisabeth Hertenstein (Switzerland)
• Implementing CBT-I in routine clinical care using a stepped care model: A randomized controlled trial: Kai Spiegelhalder (Germany)

Symposium: Targeting sleep disturbances in mental disorders: Does it make the difference?

Chair: Pierre Alexis Geoffroy (France) • Duration: 97 Minutes

This symposium examines how sleep disturbances contribute to mental health disorders by affecting brain plasticity and stress regulation. Experts will discuss sleep and circadian disruptions in psychosis, the role of nightmares, insomnia treatments including orexin-targeting medications, and whether improving sleep can reduce suicide risk. The session highlights emerging approaches linking sleep treatment with better mental health outcomes.

Presentations

• Sleep and circadian rhythm disturbance in psychosis, does targeting sleep and circadian function improve outcomes: Nicholas Meyer (United Kingdom)
• A "wake up call" for nightmares in adults: Management and implications for mental health: Pierre Alexis Geoffroy (France)
• Treating insomnia comorbid with mood and anxiety disorders: Data on CBT-I and pharmacological treatments: Laura Palagini (Italy)
• Reducing suicidality through insomnia treatment is it possible: Vaughn McCall (United States)

Oral Abstract: Psychiatric disorders affecting wake/sleep

Chairs: Joey Chan (Hong Kong), K Mathu Prathibha (India) • Duration: 74 Minutes

Summary
This session explores the relationship between sleep and mental health across a range of conditions and treatments. Topics include the impact of insomnia, sleep disturbances in young adults and schizophrenia, sleep problems during morphine withdrawal, and the role of sleep in PTSD severity. It also examines emerging treatment approaches, including orexin antagonists and EEG markers predicting ketamine treatment response.

Presentations:

• Impact of insomnia symptoms on the clinical outcomes among patients with major depressive disorder and eveningness- results from a randomized controlled trial: Joey Chan (Hong Kong)
• Sleep and mental disorders in young adults: A national prospective diagnostic study: Borge Sivertsen (Norway)
• A PVTD2R-CeA circuit underlies sleep disturbance and negative effects induced by morphine withdrawal: Wenjun Chen (China)
• Effects of a dual orexin-receptor antagonist on sleep architecture and opioid withdrawal severity during buprenorphine taper: Andrew Huhn (United States)
• Sleep profiles in schizophrenia inpatients :A cross-sectional study of clinical and genetic associations: Kseniia Gasenko (Russian Federation)
• Pre-infusion EEG vigilance dynamics as predictive indicators of ketamine response in major depression: A placebo-controlled study: Martin Brunovsky (Czech Republic)
• Sleep and PTSD symptom severity in military personnel: Insights from multi-night ecological recordings: Emeric Saguin (France)