Digital News Report – Researchers in the United States found that parents who put their children to be early may be protecting their children from depression and suicidal thoughts. The early bedtimes may lengthen the sleep duration, and that provides the protective effect.
Adolescent kids who reported 5 or fewer hours of sleep per night were 71 percent more likely to suffer from depression and 48 percent more likely to think about committing suicide, compared to those who slept 8 hours.
Lead author James E. Gangwisch, PhD, assistant professor at Columbia University Medical Center in New York, N.Y. believes lack of sleep may play a role in depression. “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,” Gangwisch said.
By: Mark Williams