Suicide Rates are High During Late Night Hours: Study

(Photo : Flickr) Most Suicides Occur During Midnight Hours

Most suicides occur during late night hours, warns a study.

Chronic depression, stress, phobia and persistent mental illnesses drive individuals to take extreme measures like committing suicide and harming themselves. Researchers from the University of Pennsylvania discovered sleep disorders like insomnia, nightmares or even remaining awake at night can be risk factors for suicidal behavior and self destructive tendencies in adults.

"This appears to be the first data to suggest that circadian factors may contribute to suicidality and help explain why insomnia is also a risk factor for suicidal ideation and behavior," said Michael Perlis, study author and director of the Penn Behavioral Sleep Medicine Program at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, reports the Health Day.

Their study examined over 35,000 suicide cases from the National Violent Death Reporting System and recorded the hours during which Americans normally stay awake. The experts then observed the total number of suicides in each hour of the night.

Their analysis revealed most suicides occurred between midnight and 6 a.m. The overall all late night suicides rates were 3.6 times higher than what the experts predicted. It was observed that chances of people committing suicide in every hour after midnight were 10.27 percent more compared to 2.13 percent during day time. The rates surged by 16.27 percent between 2 and 3 am.

Previous clinical trials suggested most suicides happen during the day but did not explore sleeping patterns of its participants. The findings of the current study emphasize on early diagnosis and treatment for sleeplessness and night terrors to bring down suicide rates.

According to data by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, suicides account for 38,000 deaths in the country annually.

The research was presented at the 28^th annual meeting of the Associated Professional Sleep Societies in Minneapolis. More information is available online in the journal Sleep.