Insomniac teens are at risk of suffering anxiety and depression, a new research shows.
People suffering from insomnia find it difficult to fall asleep. This results in sleep deprivation and might lead to various health issues.
"There is a growing awareness among the scientific community that insomnia, depression and anxiety disorders are linked with each other, and these disorders contain overlapping neurobiological, psychological, and social risk factors," said lead study author Pasquale Alvaro, a PhD student at School of Psychology, University of Adelaide in Australia, in a press release.
The research was conducted on more than 300 high school students aged between 12 and 18. Researchers interviewed them and gathered information about their sleeping habits, mental health status and daytime activity levels, mainly when they were most active.
The analysis showed that depression, generalized anxiety disorder and panic disorder was common in teens with insomnia.
Researchers also found that youngsters who were more active during the evenings had more chances of suffering depression and or insomnia. Alvaro said that this particular set of teens was also at risk of developing obsessive-compulsive disorder, separation anxiety and social phobia.
"These findings suggest that the 'eveningness' chronotype - being more active in the evenings - is an independent risk factor for insomnia and depression. This is important because adolescents tend to develop a preference for evenings, which sometimes becomes a syndrome whereby they keep delaying going to sleep," Alvaro said.
He further stated that the prevention and treatment efforts for insomnia and depression should consider this combination of mental health, sleep, and the eveningness chronotype, along with the current mainstream behavioral approaches. "Prevention and treatment efforts for anxiety subtypes should also consider focusing on insomnia and depression," Alvaro said.
The study, 'The independent relationships between insomnia, depression, subtypes of anxiety, and chronotype during adolescence,' was published in the journal Sleep Medicine.
