Making the link between mental health and lack of sleep

While scientists aren’t entirely certain why humans need to sleep, there is no confusion regarding just how much sleep people need. The average adult needs between seven to eight hours of sleep each day while children and teenagers need a bit more than that. If people aren’t able to get the sleep that they require, they may begin to see significant side effects.

Now, most people understand that when they lose out on sleep, there is a natural tendency to experience some physical problems. You may feel tired and sluggish, have slow reactions, and develop dark circles under your eyes. With time, you may notice that your immune system is compromised, you gain weight more easily, and you have a higher chance of developing certain illnesses.

However, what most people don’t consider is the effect that the lack of sleep has on your mental health. If you tend to lose out on sleep night after night, there is a good chance that you can develop a whole host of mental health problems. Scientists and other experts are beginning to realise that there is a greater link between lack of sleep and psychological issues than ever before.

Here is what they have been finding out:

Causation, not correlation

For the longest time, doctors have understood that sleep problems have been symptoms of several psychological illnesses such as depression and anxiety. Continued research, however, is indicating that it may be actually the other way around – a lack of sleep could be the trigger for certain psychological problems.

This theory was put forth because scientists noted that people with sleeping issues had a greater chance of developing depression. In certain instances, people with poor sleeping patterns were four times more likely to report symptoms of depression in the future. Sleep problems also tend to precede severe anxiety symptoms and have been known to trigger certain manic episodes in people with bipolar disorder. Less sleep may also contribute to greater ADHD symptoms in children.

It was also found that by treating insomnia and other sleeping problems, the symptoms of mental issues significantly decreased as well. A study showed that by introducing healthier sleep patterns, individuals reported less paranoia, fewer hallucinations, and a general improvement in their anxiety and depression.

While further studies do need to be carried out, these findings are bringing scientists a lot closer to understanding the true link between sleep and mental health. This means that they can not only help to treat mental disorders in a whole new way, they may be closer to preventing the occurrence as well. After all, by helping people establish healthier sleep schedules, experts may be able to significantly decrease the probability of developing mental health problems.

A Closer Look at Brain Function

Of course, it is not enough to understand the association between too little sleep and mental health. You also have to understand how the brain is affected by a lack of sleep and how this can contribute to certain mental disorders.

Well, the one thing that is certain is that the amygdala is affected quite a bit by a lack of sleep. The amygdala is a midbrain structure that is responsible for emotional processing. Research shows that when you don’t get enough sleep, your amygdala has an increased level of activity, especially when in stressful situations. This means that in these instances, without sufficient sleep, you will be more likely to react in a negative manner, which results in depression or anxiety.

It goes further than this, however. In typical situations, your amygdala would communicate with a part of the brain that is known as the medial prefrontal cortex. This area enables the amygdala to contextualize the emotions that it may be interpreting. Thus, the medial prefrontal cortex can act as an inhibitor.

So, in a normal state, when you were in a specific situation, your amygdala would process certain emotions before getting feedback from the medial prefrontal cortex. At this point, the cortex would make it easier for you to look at the emotions rationally and determine whether they were appropriate or not.

When you haven’t gotten as much sleep as you need, though, there is a breakdown in this communication pathway. What happens instead is that the amygdala begins communicating with the locus coeruleus. This segment of the brain secretes norepinephrine, which is a precursor of adrenaline. Once adrenaline is released, it can trigger the fight-or-flight response in the brain and the body.

When this happens, the amygdala isn’t properly contained. So, it is not unusual for people to experience a range of emotions within a short period of time. They could go from being angry to mildly euphoric quite quickly. These are all of the symptoms that can be noted in a variety of mental health disorders.

So what can be seen so far is that there is a good chance that sleeps plays a much more important role in mental health than anyone could imagine. Rather than just being an indicator of psychological issues, sleep can actually be one of the triggers. Of course, more research has to be conducted to truly understand how sleep can affect the mental health of various individuals. However, at this point, it does bring scientists and other experts one step closer to understanding the links between sleep and our mental health.