Sleep key to beating teen blues

Source

January 5, 2010

NEW YORK: It seems parents have been right all along. Going to bed early is key to getting enough sleep and helping adolescents feel on top of the world, a study reports.

A lack of sleep among youngsters may trigger depression and suicidal thoughts, according to the study by the Columbia University Medical Centre.

''Our results are consistent with the theory that inadequate sleep is a risk factor for depression, working with other risk and protective factors through multiple possible causal pathways to the development of this mood disorder,'' said the study's lead author, James Gangwisch.

''Adequate quality sleep could therefore be a preventative measure against depression and a treatment for depression,'' he added in the study published in the latest issue of Sleep magazine.

The study followed 15,659 college and high-school students, and found those who consistently went to bed after midnight had a 24 per cent higher risk of depression than those who turned in before 10pm.

Night owls also ran a 20 per cent higher risk of battling suicidal thoughts, the study added.

The American Academy of Sleep Medicine recommends that adolescents should sleep at least nine hours or more a night. Those who were in bed before 10pm reported they slept on average about eight hours and 10 minutes. But the amount of sleep dropped significantly for those in bed after midnight.

And adolescents who slept five hours or less a night were 71 per cent more likely to suffer depression and 48 per cent more at risk of becoming suicidal, the study said.

''It is a common perception and societal expectation that adolescents do not need as much sleep as pre-adolescents, yet studies suggest that adolescents may actually require more sleep,'' Dr Gangwisch said.

Agence France-Presse