By Dr Ananya Mandal, MD
According to Australian research, youngsters getting inadequate sleep are at risk of mental ailments. Researcher Nicholas Glozier of the University of Sydney said, the increase in incidence of mental ailments in the young has been puzzling health experts. The answer may lie in inadequate sleep.
He and his team studied nearly 20,000 people aged 17-24 found those who slept less than five hours a night were three times more likely than normal sleepers to become psychologically distressed in the next year. Each hour of sleep lost was linked to a 14 per cent higher risk of distress.
Professor Glozier explained, “Sleep disturbance and in particular insomnia is a predictor of later development of depression and possibly anxiety.” Less sleep also meant longer-term mental health problems. He said that sleep problems and mental problems tend to be linked. Mental ailments decrease sleep and sleep problems aggravate mental problems. He said, “What we are seeing is young adults who tend to start off with anxiety and body clock problems, move on to problems like bipolar or major depression.”
Working with researchers from the Woolcock Institute and the Brain and Mind Research Institute, Professor Glozier is working towards helping people with sleep problems by adjusting their body clocks. Patients are treated with light therapy in the mornings as well as hormones such as melatonin to help them sleep earlier.