May 1

Aaron May

Mr. Snell

ENG 1102

11 December 2020

Research Essay

Mental health is a common struggle for people in the United States of America. Most people

know someone who deal with mental health struggles if they are not dealing with these issues

themselves. There might be a factor that is affecting your mental health: sleep. Sleep is one of the

biggest factors in maintaining a good mental state. There are multiple reliable sources that are all in

agreeance that sleep is extremely important in maintaining good mental health. One of these important

sources is the United States government.

The United States National Library of Medicine did an article on an experiment conducted in the

United Kingdom who experimented with sleep affecting mental health. The universities took people

with sleep issues and tested their mental abilities. They were able to come up with conclusive results. “It

provides strong evidence that insomnia is a causal factor in the occurrence of psychotic experiences and

other mental health problems” (Psychiatry). They were able to come up with conclusive evidence that

lack of sleep can negatively affect the human mind. Not only was the lack of sleep tough on the mind,

but it was also harmful for the whole body. The study in the United Kingdom was not the only source to

announce that lack of sleep is poor for your mental health.

Harvard Health Publishing wrote an article describing the poor affects that lack of sleep has on

mental health. One of Harvard’s main points is that “sleep problems may increase risk for

developing particular mental illnesses, as well as result from such disorders” (Harvard). Harvard
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is well known for their prestigious studies and articles. Harvard goes on in the article to list

specific conditions linked to the lack of sleep and how negative it is for one’s mind. Harvard

repeatedly discusses in this article on how poor lack of sleep is for one’s health. There is good

reason as there are yet more sources that back up the importance of sleep.

Kendra Cherry starts her article on verywellmind.com very straight and to the point by

telling the reader the dangers of not sleeping. “Lack of sleep is linked to a number of

unfavorable health consequences including heart disease, type 2 diabetes, and depression”

(Cherry). Cherry also goes on and discusses how lack of sleep can worsen pre-existing

conditions such as ADHD. She makes it extremely clear that lack of sleep is a dangerous animal.

It is an animal that does not immediately attack but will bite you later in life. This has been a

common theme in all of my research.

Every source agrees on a common theme: lack of sleep is detrimental to one’s health.

This health could be mentally or physically. It could explain why many Americans struggle with

mental health issues. As a rule of thumb, Americans do not get enough sleep. Without sleep,

people put themselves in a temporary situation where they could be in a bad mood for a day,

or even give themself a heart attack later in life. The best thing to do is make sure there is

plenty of time to hit the hay for the night and get plenty of sleep. Your health will thank you.
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Works Cited

Cherry, Kendra. “What Affect Does Sleep Have on Mental Health?” Verywell Mind,
www.verywellmind.com/how-sleep-affects-mental-health-4783067

Freeman, Daniel, et al. “The Effects of Improving Sleep on Mental Health (OASIS): a Randomised
Controlled Trial with Mediation Analysis.” The Lancet. Psychiatry, Elsevier, Oct. 2017,
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5614772/.

Publishing, Harvard Health. “Sleep and Mental Health.” Harvard Health,

www.health.harvard.edu/newsletter_article/sleep-and-mental-health.