Sleep Debt Is Not Associated with Mental Health Among School-Age Adolescents: The Gravity of Short Sleep

Previous research on sleep debt has neglected considering sleep duration on weekdays as a contributing factor.

This cross-sectional study investigated the relationship between sleep debt and mental health in school-age adolescents, taking weekday sleep deficits under consideration.

We identified 1,392 students who had provided data on sleep duration from the 2016 - 2017 for Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (KNHANES). A stepwise multivariate logistic regression analysis was used to examine the independent effect of sleep debt on perceived stress or depressive mood.

Individuals with poor mental health sleep less on weekdays, resulting in more sleep debt. Final regression models that were adjusted for potential covariates revealed that poor mental health was associated with shortened sleep on weekdays but was not associated with overall sleep debt.

Our result suggests that efforts should be made to lengthen sleep on weekdays, not on weekends, to lower stress or depressive mood among adolescents.