Poor sleep linked to depression in young women

Young women in their early twenties who often experience sleeping difficulties are at five times the risk of developing depression in the following decade of their life, according to an expert psychologist speaking at the APS Health Psychology Conference in Cairns this week.

Sleep research expert Dorothy Bruck MAPS, Professor, College of Arts at Victoria University, says intervening early to address sleeping problems in young women could be a key strategy for the prevention of poor mental health.

Professor Bruck used the Australian Longitudinal Study of Women’s Health to examine data, gathered over a nine-year period, from 9,688 young women aged 21 – 25 years to explore the relationship between insomnia and depression or anxiety.

Her research analysed information obtained from questionnaires in 2000, 2003, 2006 and 2009, finding young women who reported sleeping difficulties often in the year 2000 had an increased risk of diagnosed depression at each subsequent survey.

Prof Bruck says women already reporting depression symptoms, diagnosed depression or the taking of anti-depressants at the start of study were excluded from her analysis.

Prof Bruck says: “It is well known that insomnia often precedes depression and is often part of depression symptoms, but when doctors treat depression they often don’t do anything to address the sleep issues.”

She continues: “We have good cognitive behavioural treatments now for people who have difficulty sleeping, which are effective in both the short and long term.  People don’t need to reach for sleeping tablets.”

Prof Bruck says when young women present with ongoing sleeping difficulties we should be aware that they could be at a higher risk of developing depression. 

“We don’t know what the relationship is between sleep and depression, but people who have difficulty sleeping will not be able to process emotions as well the next day, and this may have some bearing on their susceptibility to depression,” she says.

By 2020 depression will be one of the top three health concerns world-wide.

Professor Bruck will present her findings at the APS Health Psychology Conference in Cairns, 5 – 6 April 2013.

Ends

Who are Health Psychologists? Health psychologists specialise in understanding the relationships between psychological factors (e.g. behaviours, attitudes, beliefs) and health and illness.

They specialise in developing education and behaviour change programs to help people to recover from or self-manage chronic illness, trauma, injury or disability.
Psychological treatments also reduce problems that can accompany and contribute to illness and injury, such as chronic pain, addiction, poor sleep, anxiety, depression and emotional reactions such as anger and grief.

Health psychologists help people to cope with the diagnosis and medical treatment of acute health problems and to facilitate medical care.

Visit http://www.groups.psychology.org.au/chp/2013conference/ to learn more about the Conference.

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The APS is the largest professional organisation for psychologists in Australia, representing more than 20,000 members. The APS is committed to advancing psychology as a discipline and profession. It spreads the message that psychologists make a difference to people’s lives, through improving psychological knowledge and community wellbeing.