Young man sleeping

Young adults between the ages of 17 and 24 who are getting less than 5 hours of sleep each night, experience triple the risk for developing mental illnesses when compared to adults the same age who sleep 8-10 hours each night, a new study suggests.

For the study, 20,822 individuals were surveyed for 18 months, and determined a solid relation between mental illness and a lack of sleep.

Additionally, mental health problems are more likely to become chronic issues as a person continues to sleep less than the average necessary requirement.

Young individuals also experience weight gain and an increased risk for cardiovascular disease when not getting enough sleep.

While lifestyle changes can be a main factor for a disruption of sleep patterns, lack of sleep is known to cause an abundance of conditions related to poor mental health.

A linear relation exists between consistent psychological distress and less-than-average sleep hours in younger adults. However, the addition of new distress was most evident when looking at only those individuals who experienced very little amounts of sleep. Increasing the duration of sleep by attempting various methods to increase duration may produce different results for individuals, researchers conclude.