Lack of sleep could contribute to mental health problems, researchers reveal

This fits my own experience.

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2017/sep/06/lack-of-sleep-could-contribute-to-mental-health-problems-researchers-reveal

Nicola Davis
Sept. 6, 2017

Mental health problems including psychotic experiences could in part be down to a lack of sleep, researchers have revealed.

A new study found that people who had undertaken a course of cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) designed specifically to treat insomnia not only found their sleep improved, but also experienced reduced paranoia and fewer hallucinations - both psychotic experiences - as well as improvements in depression and anxiety.
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“The dominant view is that sleep [problems are] either a symptom of several mental health problems or it is a secondary consequence,” said Daniel Freeman, co-author of the research from the University of Oxford. “Really, sleep is one of the contributing causes.”

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“It is very clear that even despite there being a lot of drop-out, you can still see the pattern emerge,” said Freeman, adding that the study also underlined the link between sleep and mental health was two-way, with psychotic experiences affecting sleep - albeit to a smaller degree.

While most participants did not have clinically diagnosed mental health disorders, the team say they believe insomnia is also likely to be a contributing factor for severe psychological problems.
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“The realistic view of mental health problems is that there is a spectrum of severity and all the evidence we have is that the causes and the treatments are similar across the spectrum,” said Freeman.

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