Set times for each day made young people's routines more steady
Who it’s about: Young adults, People with a health condition
- Helped
Twelve sessions on set times to wake, eat and sleep made routines more steady than sessions on emotions.
- Rule: At the same time every daytested
- Action: Get upused
- Action: Eat your mealsused
- Action: Go to bedused
Small randomised trial of 35 young people with bipolar disorder · vs 12 sessions on skills for handling emotions · they rated themselves · ⚠ only counted people who finished
The study
Who took part
76 young people aged 16 to 29 in the USA with bipolar disorder and mood symptoms at the time. Only the 19 and 16 people who finished both checks were counted.
What they did
One group had 12 weekly one-to-one sessions that set regular times for waking, sleep, meals and activities. The other group had 12 weekly sessions on skills for handling emotions. Both groups also kept their usual care.
What happened
People in the set-times group rated their daily routines as more regular at the end, and the emotion-skills group did not. The difference between the groups was large. This was a small first test, and only people who finished were counted.
Source
Chronotherapeutic intervention targeting emotion regulation brain circuitry, symptoms, and suicide risk in adolescents and young adults with bipolar disorder: a pilot randomised trial (2025)
DOI: 10.1136/bmjment-2024-301338 (opens in a new tab)
