Sleep problems in adolescents increase risk of suicidal thoughts two years later, study finds

A new study involving researchers from Colorado found that sleep problems in adolescents increase the risk of suicidal thoughts two years later. However, the researchers advised parents not to panic.

According to the National Institutes of Health, the suicide rate among children ages 8 to 12 has increased by about 8% each year from 2008 to 2022. Children's Hospital Colorado declared a mental health emergency for adolescents in 2021, although recent survey data suggest some improvement, at least among teens.

The study used data from a larger project in which parents of 8,800 children were surveyed about their children's sleep when they were 9 or 10 years old. Two years later, they then tracked who had developed suicidal thoughts or attempted suicide. About 91 percent of children reported no suicidal thoughts, while 8 percent had suicidal thoughts and less than 1 percent attempted suicide.

While the majority of children with sleep problems did not report suicidal thoughts or attempts, the more severe the sleep disturbances, the more likely they were to commit suicide. For children with “severe” sleep disturbances, the risk was more than twice as high as for children with “minimal” disturbances. The association was even more significant for children who had nightmares almost every time they slept.

The association remained even when taking into account whether the children had symptoms of anxiety or depression, lived in a high-conflict home or had close relatives with depression. All of these factors are risk factors for suicidal thoughts, says Josh Gowin, assistant professor of radiology at the University of Colorado School of Medicine and one of the authors.

They don't know why nightmares are so strongly linked to suicidal thoughts and behavior. But children who are more prone to them may have more stressors in their lives or a brain structure that makes them more likely to go into fight-or-flight mode, says Dr. Joel Stoddard, a psychiatrist at Children's Hospital Colorado and co-author of the study.

Most children with sleep problems don't self-harm, but if sleep problems are determined to be a risk factor, intervention can occur sooner because parents are more likely to notice and discuss it with a doctor than mention that their child may be depressed, Stoddard said. This would create an opportunity to talk about treatment options and lock away weapons so children can't hurt themselves in a bad moment, he said.

“It is easier to recognize the disturbed sleep than to recognize the child's internal state,” Gowin added. “It is also easier to talk about it.”

Parents should discuss sleep problems with their child's primary care doctor because poor sleep has other negative effects, Stoddard said. In some cases, changing sleep habits is enough to correct the problem, but some children need more treatment, he said.

“There are so many different reasons why people have trouble sleeping,” he said.

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