Having an adequate sleep stands as the latest treatment for mental illness, according to research. Peope are at risk of having mood disorders if there is lack of sleep, and those who have a mood disorder can find it hard to recover if sleeping hours are inadequate.
University of Pennsylvania psychologist Philip Gerhman conducted a study, which aimed to determine the relationship between sleep and mental illness, as per Science Daily. He covers a wide range of psychiatric disorders such as depression, bipolar disorder, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
Gerhman's patients who suffer depressive disorders also disclosed that their mood would be better if they could just sleep better.
In University of Pittsburg, psychologist Ellen Frank has started a study that involved young people with risk of having bipolar disorder. She trained the subjects to make sleep a priority to prevent the disorder.
Frank was surprised, as the teenagers listened to her despite of the presence of peer pressure.
Another study from Ryerson University in Toronto involved talk therapy as treatment for insomnia. The findings revealed that the number of people who recovered from depression doubled after the treatment. Now, a larger scale study is in the works.
University of Pittsburgh psychiatrist David Kupfer linked sleep to neuroscience and the circadian rhythm. He said that sleep has become a variable in measuring a person's general health.
Karl Doghramji, Thomas Jefferson University psychiatrist and sleep expert, said that sleep is judgmentally significant to one's health, but people underestimate it. He added that people who are more sleepy have the tendency to be unaware of their sleepiness.
Meanwhile, doctors say that insomnia or alterations in the so-called "sleep-architecture," which refers to the length and quality of various phases of sleep, are symptoms of all mental illnesses.
Lack of sleep in children can also increase the risk of having conduct disorder, depressive disorder, and social phobia, as per a study published in the Journal of Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics.
Gerhman will next determine whether outcomes in PTSD will be improved if insomnia is treated first.
Most of Gerhman's patients could not keep relationships and jobs, but those had changed when they began having proper and adequate sleep, Gehrman said.