Association of Mildly Insufficient Sleep with Symptoms of Anxiety and Depression

Objective/Background: Sleep disorders are common among people with depression and anxiety. This study examines the independent association of mild sleep insufficiency and symptoms of anxiety and depression among adults. Design/Methods: Data from the 2012 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS), a cross-sectional nationwide telephone-administered survey were used. Participants reported how often in the past month they felt nervous, hopeless, restless/fidgety, depressed, the number of days their mental health was “not good” and the number of hours of sleep they received per day. Covariates included age, sex, race, education, BMI, marital status, exercise, employment and household income. Linear and ordinal logistic regression analyses included survey weighting procedures. Results: Data were examined for 20,851 participants (mean ± SE age = 47.47 ± 0.18 years; 49.64% men). Each additional hour of sleep was associated with decreased odds (OR; 95% CI) of depression (0.77; 0.73–0.80), hopelessness (0.79; 0.76–0.82), nervousness (0.80; 0.77–0.82), and feeling restlessness/fidgety (0.75; 0.72–0.77) controlling for other covariates. Sleep duration was inversely associated with number of poor mental health days (β = −1.06 ± 0.07 SE). One hour less than optimum sleep duration was associated with 60–80% higher odds of depression, hopelessness, nervousness, and feeling restless/fidgety (p < 0.05). Limitations: Temporality of these associations cannot be inferred due to the cross-sectional study design. Conclusions: Sleep duration and mental health symptoms were strongly associated in this nation-wide, representative sample. Providers should be aware that even minor sleep insufficiency is associated with these symptoms.