Study: Less sleep means more depression

William Atkins
Thursday, 02 September 2010 00:59

Science - Health

An Australian-U.S. study has shown that young adults getting less than five hours of sleep each night are at greater risk of depression and other psychological distresses.

The results of the study is published in the journal Sleep under the title “Short Sleep Duration in Prevalent and Persistent Psychological Distress in Young Adults: The DRIVE Study” (volume 33, issue 09, pages 1139-1145).

Its authors are: Nicholas Glozier, Alexandra Martiniuk, George Patton, Rebecca Ivers, Qiang Li, Ian Hickie, Teresa Senserrick, Mark Woodward, Robyn Norton, Mark Stevenson.

They are associated with the University of Sydney (Australia), The Murdoch Children’s Research Institute (Melbourne, Australia), or the Mount Sinai School of Medicine (New York City, U.S.A.)

The researchers studied the sleeping habits of young people in Australia from the ages of 17 to 24 years.

These 20,822 young adults were also looked at by these researchers with respect to the supposed link between sleep and psychological distress.

They found that shorter sleep duration is directly associated with “prevalent psychological distress.”

Specifically, those that averaged less than five hours each night had an increased risk for the “onset of psychological distress.”

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