Poor sleep can make suicidal thoughts worse

Poor sleep is one of the risks leading to suicidal ideation. Inadequate sleep was found to have a direct effect on suicidal ideation, after controlling for other risk factors including depression and socioeconomic factors. The indirect effect of insufficient sleep on suicidal ideation is due to depression.

According to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, suicide is the second leading cause of death among young adults in the United States.
A new study shows that sleep problems may provide early clues to worsening suicidal thoughts in at-risk young people, also showing promise in reducing the condition. suicidal.

Depression is often accompanied by sleep problems. Depression and sleep are strongly correlated. Sleep problems are common in almost all people with depression. In fact, if a patient doesn't have a sleep problem, doctors hesitate to make a diagnosis of depression.
People with depression may have trouble sleeping and toss and turn during the night. Some people are always sleepy during the day or even sleep too much. At the same time, sleep problems can exacerbate depression, leading to a negative loop that is hard to break between depression and sleep, and poor sleep can contribute to the development of depression. Depression and depression make people more likely to have sleep problems. Sleep problems or depression are so complex that it can sometimes be difficult to tell which problem comes first. Poor sleep can even trigger depression in some people.
Sleep problems contribute to the progression of depression due to changes in the function of the neurotransmitter Serotonin. Disrupted sleep can affect the body's stress system, disrupt circadian rhythms and increase the risk of depression.
Fortunately, people with major depression say their sleep quality improves after receiving the right treatment.

Researcher Bernert explains: “Sleep is a measure of health status, and a direct reflection of the next day's mood. We believe that when going through difficult times, poor sleep deprives the mind of time to rest, making it difficult to regulate emotions, which in turn makes people more likely to have suicidal thoughts.”
The study was conducted on 50 university students aged 18 to 23, the researchers monitored the sleep of the students for 1 week. All had a history of suicide attempts or were contemplating suicide.
Sleep problems have, according to research, been shown to be a warning sign of worsening suicidal thoughts in the days and weeks that follow. Differences between when these guys go to sleep and when they wake up are particularly serious warning signs.

The correlation between poor sleep and worse suicidal thoughts remained clear, even when the researchers took into account other factors such as depression levels, alcohol and substance use, severity of importance of suicidality markers at the beginning of the study.
Research also shows that students whose sleep duration varies significantly have more insomnia and nightmares. Both of these sleep problems independently predicted more suicidal behaviors.
Author Bernert says: “Sleep disturbances and suicidal ideation are both symptoms of depression, and it is important to disentangle these relationships and assess independent factors to predict risk. ro. Compared with other suicide risks, disturbed sleep is modifiable using short, effective interventions. Because sleep is something we all experience and we might be willing to talk more openly about it, we believe that research on it could offer an important opportunity for suicide prevention, "
Researchers are currently performing suicide prevention studies using insomnia treatments.
Sleep is a modifiable factor that can reduce suicide rates youth mortality and will be targeted through public health prevention efforts.

Reference source: webmd.com