Recent studies show correlation in sleep disturbances, suicide rates in preadolescence

NORTH PLATTE, Neb. (KNOP) – A recent study by JAMA shows a link between sleep disturbances and suicide rates in preadolescence.

Dr. Jefrey Start, a doctor at Great Plains Health that specializes in sleep medicine, said that some of the leading factors that contribute to suicide in preadolescence include sleep disturbances and nightmares.

“The most prominent thing they found in increased suicide is due to not sleeping well at night and also an occurrence of nightmares seem to be the biggest signaling factors in all of this,” Dr. Start said. “This can be crafted into some type of screening tool to be used at standard office visits and even parents could ask some additional questions.”

One of the biggest factors that attributes to suicidal thoughts is a lack of time spend with family, according to Dr. Start.

“Parenting and spending more time with your kids, all of the things that we’d like to do but because of social constraints and job constraints we put aside, we really need to make those a priority. I think everyone knows it but finding the time and the methods to achieve it is tough,” Dr. Start said.

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