
If you’ve ever been seriously sleep-deprived (say, a few days after giving birth)you know the exhaustion, the sense of despair, the absolute feeling of everything being too much to handle, that can come with it.
Hopefully, at that point, a loving relative or friend has held the baby for a few hours so you can catch up on a little rest, or the baby has hit a sleep stage that provides a break. But what if the causes of lack of sleep are internal, and the sleep-deprived person is a child who can’t pass it off to someone else for a few hours?
A new study affirms that when kids are extremely sleep-deprived or suffer excessive nightmares or sleepwalking at age ten, they are at higher risk for suicidal thoughts by age 12.
What Parents Should Watch Out For
When the study started, the participants were nine-year-olds and ten-year-olds. Their parents filled out a form called the Sleep Disturbance Scale for Children, or SDSC. You can see a copy here via the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine.
It asks parents to rate statements on a scale of 1 (never) to 5 (daily). The statements include “the child feels anxious or afraid while falling asleep,” “the child feels unable to move when waking in the morning,” and “the child falls asleep suddenly in inappropriate situations.”
Other behaviors mentioned are sleepwalking, snoring, excessive night sweats, night terrors, waking in the night, struggling to breathe while sleeping, nightmares, and teeth grinding, among others.
How Much Sleep Disturbance Should Raise Concerns?
On the SDSC, each of the 26 questions returns a score between 1 and 5, making the maximum score 130 and the minimum 26. According to the study published in JAMA, the scores mean the following:
“Sleep disturbance is categorized according to the total score as minimal (26-35), moderate (36-46), elevated (47-51), high (52-66), and severe (67-130).”
The kids whose parents reported high or severe levels of sleep disturbance were more likely to have reported suicidal behavior, with nearly 1 in 3 who fell into the ‘severe’ sleep disturbance category reporting suicidal behavior. The study also found that the amount of sleep kids get matters for suicidal thoughts as well as anxiety and depression.
The typical amount of sleep varied by level of suicidal behavior, with individuals who reported less sleep on a typical night being more likely to subsequently report suicidal behavior…At baseline, higher scores on the SDSC scale were associated with higher ratings of affective symptoms on the Anxiety and Depression subscale.
Some Specific Relevant Factors
The study also looked more closely at some of the specific questions on the SDSC, such as nightmares, and examined whether there was any correlation between these factors and higher rates of suicidal thoughts.
Sure enough, those who reported occasional nightmares were 74% more likely to have suicidal thoughts compared to those with none, and those with nightly nightmares were five times as likely to exhibit suicidal behavior as those with no nightmares.
High levels of two categories of sleep disturbance — Sleep-Wake Transition Disorders (SWTD) and Sleep Hyperhidrosis or excessive sweating (SHY) were also associated with higher levels of suicidal behavior.
Other Studies Have Shown Similar Concerns For Various Age Groups
The CDC reported last year that various studies had shown links between lack of sleep and suicidal behavior in high school students, as well as between sleep deprivation and mental health struggles. They also found links between sleep deprivation and engaging in high-risk behaviors, including substance abuse and impaired driving.
Another article published in NCBI in 2020 found links between lack of sleep and suicidal ideation in both teens and young adults. It cited various studies, including those that found an association between nightmares and suicidal thoughts in adults and adolescents, even when adjusting for factors like PTSD that could cause both.
What Should Parents Do About It?
Check-in with your kids about their sleep, and don’t ignore excessive sleep struggles. If you see enough issues to raise concern, speak to their pediatrician for recommendations.
In the meantime, you can help encourage good sleep by maintaining regular nighttime routines, keeping bedrooms comfortable, and turning off screens before bedtime.
Stay connected with your child about their mental health as well. Keep conversations open about safe choices, good ways to manage stress, and maintaining good self-esteem. If you are concerned about your child’s mental health, speak to a healthcare provider.