Our Research
What are we researching?
Our brain interprets bodily signals such as hunger or heartbeats through a process called interoception.
We’re studying this process and how it links to mental health in males and females. You will take part for several weeks, and if you have a menstrual cycle you may be invited to participate for up to 5 months.
Why is this research important?
1. Differences in interoception between males and females are not fully understood.
2. The only way we can understand how people experience changes in their physical and mental health is by tracking these changes across time. You would be contributing to the first study of its kind to do this.
What does the study involve?
We have developed a bespoke smartphone application: the INSYNC Study app. Only people taking part in the research will be enrolled into the app. You will complete short questionnaires, tasks, and ratings, and receive personalised insights.
This app-based study is divided into 2 phases:
Phase 1
You'll start with a short screening questionnaire to see if this study is a good match for you. If you qualify, we’ll invite you to a quick 30-minute online session where we’ll help you set up the INSYNC Study smartphone app and go over everything you need to know about the study.
Phase 2
Once you’re enrolled in the study, you’ll use the smartphone app to complete short questionnaires, tasks, and ratings. Don’t worry - it only takes 3-5 minutes a day on average.
You will take part for a minimum of 2-3 weeks, and if you have a menstrual cycle and do not take hormonal contraception, you can participate for up to 5 more months. The types of things you do will change throughout.
Take a peek at the sections below for an idea of what’s involved!
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You’ll answer some questionnaires roughly once per week. These will ask about things like your mental health, physical symptoms, and emotions.
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The app will prompt you three times a day to briefly rate things like your bodily changes or your mood.
For instance, we might ask you ‘How stressed were you feeling in the last 5 minutes?’ and you would respond by selecting a response on a scale (Not stressed at all - Very stressed).
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Roughly once a week, you’ll complete a short interoception task. This might involve matching auditory tones to your heartbeat or syncing a tone with a flashing shape. Using special technology, your smartphone’s flash and camera will measure your heart rate!
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After the first few weeks, if you have a menstrual cycle AND do not take hormonal contraception/treatments, you will be invited to participate for another 4 months where you will track your menstrual cycles.
We’ll ask you basic questions about your menstrual history (e.g. when you had your first period, any premenstrual symptoms).
You will learn how to check and report your cervical mucus changes i.e. understanding changes in discharge. Once we have data on two menstrual cycles, you'll continue with daily and weekly tasks e.g. menstrual tracking, questionnaires (mental health, interoception) and an interoception task.
You can also share pre-existing menstrual cycle data with us (if you already track them in a different app such as Clue, Apple or Flo). This will allow us to understand differences in menstrual cycle experiences.
Over time, you can access personalised health insights about sleep and other habits!
Click the button below to sign up!
You’ll read an information sheet.
If you decide to join the study, you’ll confirm your participation by filling in a short consent form.
This study has received favourable ethical approval from the University of Surrey Ethics Committee (ref number: FHMS 23-24 203 EGA/ERM ID 630)