New research from the US suggests that people suffering with sleep disturbances are more likely to attempt suicide even when there is no history of mental health problems.

An estimated 877,000 people commit and die by suicide each year with one death in every 40 attempts. There has always been a strong link between sleep problems and an increased risk of suicide in people with mental health disorders or in adolescents but it is unclear if the association extends to the general population.

The research carried out at the University of Michigan looked at 5,692 American citizens over the course of a year to establish a relationship between sleep problems and suicidal behaviour.

At the end of the study, nearly 3% had suicidal thoughts and 0.5% made a suicide attempt. Researchers studied three types of problems with sleep – difficulty falling asleep, staying asleep and waking for two hours earlier than desired. Factors taken into account included anxiety, depression, illness, substance abuse, marital status and financial status.

Those with two or more symptoms of insomnia were nearly three times more likely to report a suicide attempt than those who slept normally Early morning waking seen as the strongest link to suicide behaviour.

Researchers have called on doctors to be vigilant for patients who describe sleep disturbances even when no psychiatric conditions are present.

It is possible that poor sleep could drive people to thoughts of suicide and not just be a manifestation of a mental disorder. However, researchers were keen to highlight that an underlying physiological link between the two was unclear.

A lack of sleep could affect the brain’s ability to function correctly leading to poor judgement and inability to control impulsive behaviour.

A chemical imbalance of serotonin (a mood regulator) is also a suspected cause and link between sleep disorders and suicidal thoughts.

Good sleep is vital to our emotional, physical and psychological wellbeing. Poor sleep is often linked to an increased risk of depression

Click here to learn more about sleep disorders with this video

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