Digital Mental Health Interventions Also Improve Sleep

Summary: Bend Health, Inc, announced that digital mental health interventions may improve sleep in children and adolescents, according to a study published in Digital Health. The study found that 77% of members with elevated sleep problems showed improvements after about two months of care. While the intervention didn’t target sleep directly, there were significant secondary improvements in sleep correlated with better mental health. Key findings include a strong link between sleep problems and elevated anxiety, depression, and inattention symptoms. The study highlights the broader benefits of digital mental health care for youth.

Key Takeaways:

77% of children and adolescents with elevated sleep problems showed improvement after an average of two months of digital mental health care, even though the intervention did not directly target sleep.
Children and teens with sleep problems had more than double the rates of elevated anxiety, depression, and inattention symptoms compared to their peers without sleep issues, indicating a strong link between sleep and mental health.
The study underscores the potential of digital mental health interventions to improve various aspects of well-being, including sleep, highlighting the importance of addressing mental health to achieve better overall health outcomes in youth.

Bend Health, Inc, a provider of mental health care for children, teens, young adults, and families, announced new study findings today indicating that digital mental health interventions may improve sleep in children and adolescents.

Published in Digital Health, the study suggests that 77% of Bend Health members with elevated sleep problems exhibited improvements after an average of two months of care, with sleep problems decreasing over each month in care with Bend. While the digital mental health intervention did not target sleep directly, the findings support secondary improvements in sleep problems associated with participation in collaborative mental health care.

Key findings from the study include:

Correlation Between Sleep and Mental Health: Compared to their peers without sleep problems, children and teens with elevated sleep problems had more than double the rates of elevated anxiety and depressive symptoms. They also had higher rates of elevated inattention symptoms.
Improvements in Sleep: Without directly targeting sleep, 77% of children and adolescents showed improvements in their sleep after an average of approximately two months of care with Bend. Members whose mental health symptoms improved over the course of care had larger improvements in their sleep, demonstrating the relationship between mental health and sleep.
Demographic Insights: Bend Health members between the ages of five to 17 were screened, and 39.3% (n=479) had elevated sleep problems. Members with elevated sleep problems tended to be older, female, and identified as white compared to their peers without elevated sleep issues.

“Improving mental health can have profound ripple effects on various aspects of well-being, including sleep,” says Monika Roots, MD, co-founder and president at Bend Health, in a release. “This is particularly significant given the escalating concern surrounding sleep issues and their intertwined relationship with mental health challenges in youth. These study findings offer hope, demonstrating that even brief periods of digital mental health care can lead to meaningful improvements in sleep, offering relief to children, adolescents, and their caregivers grappling with fatigue and sleep disturbances.”

Added Benefits of Digital Mental Heath Programs

This study supports the added benefits of digital mental health interventions on child and adolescent sleep problems, according to a release from Bend Health. This is a critical area of development given the growing crisis of sleep issues and established links to mental health problems in youth.

These findings highlight that sleep problems can improve in a relatively short period of care with a digital mental health program.