Volume 1 |

Issue 1
May 4,
2020 Breaking News: Humans
By: Melanie
Nacey Need Sleep!
“Sleep promotes the restoration of brain mechanisms involved in
information processing, and such functions as concentration, reality testing,
mood regulation, and task performance.” (Ogbulo et al., 2019)

Sleeping Disorders and Mental Health

Doctors are now finding links between psychiatric disorders and sleeping disorders, especially in high stress
jobs such as academic careers. One-third of the adult population admit to having some kind of sleeping
disorder. Sleeping problems can negatively affect people’s health and longevity. Good sleep promotes
mental and emotional resilience, while bad sleep promotes negative thinking and emotional vulnerability.
Anxiety causes nervousness, fear, apprehension, and worrying People who suffer from anxiety have a
greater risk for developing a sleeping disorder. 63% of people who suffer from anxiety also have
nightmares. While only 10.8% of the general population suffer from nightmares. 59% of people who have
anxiety also suffer from insomnia, while only 20.4% of the general population have insomnia.54% of
people who suffer from anxiety also have sleep apnea while only 8% of the general population have sleep
apnea. These sleeping disorders put people at risk for heart disease, heart failure, high blood pressure,
stroke, diabetes, and obesity (Ackay et al., 2018). Doctors classify sleeping disorders into four different
categories: problems falling or staying asleep, problems staying awake, problems sticking to a regular sleep
schedule, or unusual behaviors. Sleep disturbances are strongly linked to psychiatric disorders because of
how the psychiatric disorder presents itself or from side effects of the medication. Ogbu

Figure 1: This is a relationship between academic status, having anxiety, and sleep quality (Ackay et al.,
2018).
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Figure 2:
Sociodemograph
ic Information
on People in the
study

No Sleep Disorders. Sleep Disorders Total p value

n (%) % n (%) % n (%)

Age

20-39 years 61 33.2 52.6 41 22.3 60.3 102 55.4 p>0.05

40-59 years 37 20.1 31.9 13 7.1 19.1 50 27.2

≥ 60 years 18 9.8 15.5 14 7.6 20.6 32 17.4

Total 116 63.0 100.0 68 37.0 100.0 184 100.0

Sex: Male 56 30.4 48.3 32 17.4 47.1 88 47.8 p>0.05

Female 60 32.6 51.7 36 19.6 52.9 96 52.2

Total 116 63.0 100.0 68 37.0 100.0 184 100.0

Marital status

Single 65 35.3 56.0 36 19.6 52.9 101 54.9 p>0.05

Married 38 20.7 32.8 23 12.5 33.8 61 33.2

Separated/divorced 11 6.0 9.5 3 1.6 4.4 14 7.6

Widowed 2 1.1 1.7 6 3.3 8.8 8 4.3

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Total 116 63.0 100.0 68 37.0 100.0 184 100.0