Individuals with insomnia are more inclined to consider suicide, but a new study shows just a little more sleep can dramatically lower the risk of those suicidal thoughts.
The study, conducted at the University of Pennsylvania Behavioral Sleep Medicine Research Program and published in the journal SLEEP, looked at data from two studies of insomnia capturing 471 individuals. Seventy-three indicated suicide risk with 55 classified as low suicide risk and 18 were classified as moderate or high risk.
Researchers found that every one-hour increase in sleep duration was associated with a whopping 72-percent decrease in the likelihood of moderate or high suicide risk.
Experts say that sleep loss is associated with depression, executive dysfunction and poor decision-making. However, few studies have investigated the role of short sleep duration in suicidal ideation.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, suicide is the 10th leading cause of death in the U.S., accounting for more than 38,000 deaths each year.
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