Even though teenage sleep is essential for sound mental health, teens may struggle to get out of bed in the morning.
Even though it’s late in the morning, the teenagers in the house are still fast asleep even though they’ve already gotten up. Should you run up to their room and pull their feet out of bed? It seems like a good idea, but most likely the answer is no. Research shows that teens need sleep for their mental health now and in the future.
It doesn’t come as a surprise that the most common sign of depression in teens is a severe lack of sleep or a very broken sleep pattern. Even if you are very tired, it is hard to fall asleep if you have a lot of doubts or worries. This is also true for adults, as 92% of people with depression say they have trouble sleeping.
What is perhaps less obvious is that for some, sleeping issues may begin before depression, increasing the risk of future mental health problems. Does this imply that teenage sleep should be taken more seriously? And does it reduce the chance of depression later in life?
Faith Orchard, a psychologist, evaluated data from a large group of teens aged 15 to 24 in a study released in 2020. Individuals who reported having difficulty sleeping when they were 15, but did not have anxiety or depression at the time, were more likely than their peers to have anxiety or depression when they were 17, 21, or 24.
Teenage sleep issues can also predict future depression in adults. A meta-analysis of 34 studies that followed 150,000 participants for three months and 34 years discovered that persons with sleep disorders had a doubled incidence of depression later in life. Of course, not everyone who has insomnia will eventually acquire depression. Most folks will not. The last thing people who suffer from insomnia need is to be concerned about what might happen to them in the future.
Nonetheless, it is understandable why, in some situations, inadequate sleep may contribute to poor mental health. Sleep deprivation has well-documented negative impacts on humans, including a tendency to withdraw from family and friends, a lack of motivation, and increased irritability, which can affect a person’s relationships and put them at risk of depression. There are also biological considerations to consider. For example, sleep deprivation can cause increased inflammation in the body, which has been linked to mental health issues.
Researchers are studying teenage sleep disorders and other mental health conditions. Russell Foster, a famous Oxford University neuroscientist, discovered that this relationship does not simply occur in depression. Circadian rhythm disruption – the natural sleep-wake cycle – is typical in patients with bipolar disorder or schizophrenia. The biological clock can become so out of sync in some circumstances that people are awake all night and asleep during the day.
Impacts of teenage sleep difficulties
Daniel Freeman, a clinical psychologist, has asked for teenage sleep difficulties to be prioritized in mental health care. They are not considered central to a specific ailment because they are prevalent across diagnoses. He believes they are sometimes overlooked when they could be addressed.
Even when mental health issues precede sleep disruption, a person’s struggles may be exacerbated by a lack of sleep. After all, even one night of sleep deprivation has been shown to harm mood and thinking.
Yet, sleeping problems and mental health issues might be caused by the same factors. For example, traumatic or bad events. Maybe it could be excessive rumination or a combination of genetic factors. For example, genes involved in serotonin pathways and dopamine function and genes regulating a person’s circadian clock have been linked to poor sleep and depression.
It’s also likely that a lack of proper teenage sleep is more of an early warning sign than a cause of later depression. Worrying that prevents you from falling asleep might sometimes be the first sign of more significant mental health problems to come.
Foster believes that investigating the impact of circadian rhythm disturbance on the brain is the greatest method to untangle the web of correlation and causation from a biological standpoint. He says we need to look at the complicated relationships between numerous genes, brain areas, and neurotransmitters to understand what’s going on.
As a result, persistent teenage sleep problems may need to be regarded more seriously. Sleep therapies are simple and, in some situations, effective. According to a meta-analysis of 49 studies, addressing poor sleep among persons with insomnia who are also suffering symptoms of depression helps them sleep better and reduces depression.
In the meantime, anyone who has difficulty sleeping can try the following techniques: getting enough light during the day (usually in the morning for most people); not napping for more than 20 minutes; not eating, exercising, or drinking caffeine late at night; avoiding reading emails or discussing stressful topics in bed; keeping the bedroom cool, quiet, and dark; and attempting to get up and go to bed at the same time each day.
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Of course, getting more sleep will not address the mental health crisis. But, in the long term, will it make a difference? Even if it doesn’t, as exhausted teens know, nothing beats a good night’s sleep for its reason.
