Suicidal ideation is a precursor to suicide that has been linked to sleep disturbance ( 5) and insomnia ( 6, 7). The rising incidence of suicide emphasizes the need to identify and treat associated factors. In the United States alone, suicide accounted for nearly 45,000 deaths in 2016, a number that has increased by nearly 30 percent since 1999 ( 4).

Suicide has become a leading cause of death worldwide ( 3). Insomnia, including difficulty falling asleep, maintaining sleep, or falling back to sleep, is a common symptom of individuals with suicidality ( 1, 2).

This association cannot be explained by the shared association with depression or sleep duration. Sleep duration was not robustly associated with suicidal ideation.Ĭonclusions: In this study, we found that insomnia symptoms were uniquely associated with frequency of suicidal ideation. Difficulty with sleep maintenance insomnia symptoms were most robustly associated with frequency of suicidal ideation (OR ≥ 1.97, p < 0.05). Neither depression nor sleep duration moderated this association. Results: This study replicated previous results showing that insomnia symptoms are associated with frequency of suicidal ideation in the NHANES 2005–2006 cycle (OR = 1.09, p < 0.05), even after adjusting for potentially confounding variables, including depression. We further replicated these findings in parallel analyses using the combined data from the 2005–20–2008 cycles. To extend these findings, we tested whether depression or sleep duration moderated the association between insomnia symptoms and frequency of suicidal ideation. We used ordered logistic regression to determine whether insomnia symptoms were associated with frequency of suicidal ideation independently of depression and other potential confounds. Materials and Methods: We used the 2005–2006 cycle of the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey to replicate previously reported findings from the 2007–2008 cycle. We further investigated whether depression or sleep duration moderates the association between insomnia symptoms and frequency of suicidal ideation. This study sought to replicate previous findings showing that insomnia symptoms but not sleep duration are associated with frequency of suicidal ideation in adults. Objective: Insomnia is associated with suicidality, although the mechanisms of this association are unclear.

2Department of Sociology, Brigham Young University, Provo, UT, United States.

1Department of Psychology, Brigham Young University, Provo, UT, United States.

Melatonin: what you need to know.Zach Simmons 1* Lance D.

National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health.

What is insomnia?Īmerican Family Physician. National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute.

doi: 10.13078/jksrs09015Īmerican Association of Sleep Medicine. Journal of Korean Sleep Research Society.

Awake at 4 a.m. : treatment of insomnia with early morning awakenings among older adults. Acute and chronic insomnia: what has time and/or hyperarousal got to do with it? Brain Sci. Vargas I, Nguyen AM, Muench A, Bastien CH, Ellis JG, Perlis ML. Patient education: insomnia (beyond the basics).

Clinical insomnia definition