Summary: A study shows that getting enough sleep improves the mental health and general well-being of parents.
Font: State of Pennsylvania
New research findings from a multi-university research team that includes Danielle Symons Downs, professor of kinesiology and obstetrics and gynecology and associate director of the Social Science Research Institute at Penn State, show that for new and established parents, getting enough sleep plays an important role in your mental health and, in turn, your satisfaction with life.
The research team looked at sleep, physical activity, mental health and life satisfaction in couples. Their findings, published in the journal sleep healthindicated that meeting sleep guidelines was associated with better mental health and, in turn, life satisfaction for parents of newborns.
In addition, positive changes in the mental health of women, especially new mothers, were observed, but no changes were observed in men, regardless of parental status.
“Given the well-known decreases in physical activity for most couples with the transition to parenthood and our findings in this study that most fathers were not meeting recommended hours of sleep, targeted approaches that tailor Intervention doses to the changing physical activity and sleep needs of couples throughout the perinatal and postpartum periods may be a useful intervention strategy to improve, and ideally maintain, long-term mental health in parents.” Downs explained.
For parents who can’t fit more time into their sleep schedule, the research team recommends avoiding large meals and drinking caffeine close to bedtime. This lets the body know it’s time to relax.
“The study showed that physical activity had a negligible impact on the mental health of parents. However, getting the recommended hours of sleep was associated with better mental health for parents,” said lead author Alison Divine, a professor at the University of Leeds.
“Although it varied, most parents fell short of their recommended sleep hours by about an hour. Small improvements in sleep time could have a significant impact on parents’ mental health. This indicates that an intervention that prioritizes sleep health education for new parents could have a more positive impact on their quality of life.”
About this sleep and mental health research news
Author: press office
Font: State of Pennsylvania
Contact: Press Office – Penn State
Image: The image is in the public domain.
original research: Open access.
“The influence of sleep and movement on mental health and life satisfaction during the transition to parenthood” by Alison Divine et al. sleep health
Summary
The influence of sleep and movement on mental health and life satisfaction during the transition to parenthood
See also
Objectives
This study evaluated whether sleep and physical activity affect mental health and life satisfaction during the transition to parenthood. This study evaluated the impact of parenthood on the mental health of new parents and expectant parents, and whether the change in mental health occurred dyadicly in couples.
Design
Longitudinal study of 12 months.
Participants
One hundred fifty-seven couples (N = 314) between the ages of 25 and 40, who were not expecting to have a child (n = 102), were expecting their first child (n = 136), or were expecting their second child (n = 76) were recruited. .
Measurements
Participants completed the measures at baseline, 6 months, and 12 months. Sleep was assessed by how often participants met sleep guidelines (7-9 hours). Physical activity was objectively measured through accelerometers. Mental health it was measured using 6 items from the abbreviated form-12 Quality of Life Survey. Life satisfaction was assessed with the Life Satisfaction Scale (5 items).
Results
Mental health was not predicted by physical activity, but by sleep. Sleep at 6 months was positively related to mental health at 6 months (β = 0.156, p < .001), and sleep at 12 months was positively related to mental health at 12 months (β = 0.170, p < .001). The change in mental health did not occur in a dyadic manner: mental health increased for women but not for men in all groups. Mental health was positively related to life satisfaction at 6 months (β = 0.338, p < .001) and 12 months (β = 0.277, p < .001).
Conclusions
For new and established parents, getting enough sleep plays a big role in mental health and, in turn, life satisfaction.
