People who experienced mental health difficulties in childhood and early adolescence are more likely to have irregular sleep patterns in their late 40s.
The CLS-led research, published in the European Journal of Epidemiology, found that children who experienced mental ill-health between ages 5 to 16 were more likely to sleep for less than six, or for more than nine hours per night, at ages 46-48.
Lead author, Tom Metherell (UCL Centre for Longitudinal Studies) said: “Good sleep quality is known to improve mental health, and vice versa. With the rise in mental health difficulties among children within the United Kingdom, it is critical to understand the long-term consequences of the early onset of these problems.”
Past research has linked early life mental health issues to various later life outcomes such as income, excessive drinking, as well as physical and mental health issues in adulthood. Our findings on the amount of sleep this generation gets in midlife adds to this research and can allow us to appreciate the full potential of interventions in early life.
Tom Metherell, PhD StudentWhat the researchers looked at
Researchers from the UCL Centre for Longitudinal Studies analysed data from more than 8,500 individuals born across England, Scotland and Wales during one week in 1970 who are taking part in the 1970 British Cohort Study.
The researchers first looked at information about study participants’ mental health, collected at ages 5,10 and 16, and also at age 42. They then examined the average hours adults slept at night at age 46, measured by activity monitors and a sleep-diary. The main survey also asked the participants to directly report their average nightly sleep.
What the researchers found
The authors found that study participants who reported poorer mental health in childhood were more likely to be sleep-deprived, that is sleeping less than six hours, rather than for longer periods. The authors also found that this link remained even after considering participants’ mental health in midlife.
Interestingly, there appeared to be a difference between the amount of sleep reported by the group and objective data collected from the activity monitors. While 15% of people felt that they were not getting regular sleep, the activity monitors suggested that 30% were sleep-deprived or sleeping too much. Given that both self-reported and device-based measures have their own sets of limitations, this discrepancy prompts further investigations into how people perceive and report healthy sleep.
The authors added: “Sleep disturbances can have a detrimental impact on physical health and mortality in the long run. Our findings suggest a clear need to better support mental health and wellbeing for children so that abnormal sleeping patterns that hamper quality of life and productivity in late adulthood can be reduced.”
Further information
‘Associations between early-life mental health and abnormal sleep duration in midlife: findings from a prospective cohort study in Great Britain’ by Thomas E. Metherell, George B. Ploubidis & Darío Moreno-Agostino was published in February 2026 in the European Journal of Epidemiology website.
