There are many reasons why a student could have poor sleep patterns. Mental illness, excessive studying, and an upcoming exam causing stress and insomnia are just a few reasons why a student may have poor sleep patterns. How do poor sleep patterns and the mental health of students fit together when considering the overall picture? Do poor sleep patterns predict depression or other negative outcomes such as suicide? Gender roles are often implicated when looking at sleep patterns and insomnia or depression. Is there a biological factor to one gender experiencing a higher rate of poor sleep patterns than the other? When looking at an individual's need for sleep there are multiple things to consider. First, it is important to assess the student's overall health. How much sleep does a person need to feel well as opposed to exhausted? The average amount of sleep a person requires is about 6-9 hours. It is possible to get by on less sleep, however, but this sacrifice often comes at a cost. This literature review will examine two questions that will help begin to evaluate the expansive amount of writing on this topic.
1. Does a student's poor sleep patterns predict depression and suicidal ideation?.
2. Does gender affect the outcome of any of these studies and what are the limitations?.
Being able to define the causal relationship between poor sleep patterns and mental illness as well as any gender differences will identify predictive qualities of depression and suicide and the flaws in the current academic system that contribute to the formation of mental illness.
Does a student's poor sleep patterns alone predict depression and suicidal ideation?.
Poor sleep patterns such as insomnia, where a student has difficulty falling and staying asleep and hyposomnia where a person sleeps excessively all the time without another precipitating factor can cause major difficulty in functioning throughout a normal day.