Poor sleep quality is predicted by stress, anxiety, depression, and rumination with all of these factors contributing to fatigue

Title of publication

Modelling the effects of stress, anxiety, and depression on rumination, sleep, and fatigue in a nonclinical sample

Abstract 

Background: Stress and affective distress (e.g., anxiety, depression) have previously been shown to predict sleep quality, and all the factors have been shown to predict fatigue severity. However, few prior studies have examined the likely indirect mediational relationships between stress, affective distress, and poor sleep quality in predicting fatigue severity, and the potential role played by ruminative thinking. Thus, the relationship between stress, anxiety, depression, sleep, rumination, and fatigue was modelled using Structural Equation Modelling. Method: A short questionnaire asked 229 participants about their recent experiences of stress, affective distress, rumination, sleep and fatigue in a community sample. Results: High stress, anxiety, and depression was related to more ruminative thinking, which in turn was related to poor sleep quality; and sleep quality predicted worse fatigue. Conclusion: Results suggest that rumination parsimoniously explains the tendency of stress and affective distress to contribute to poor sleep quality, and together with poor sleep, it may also contribute to worse fatigue in some individuals.

Cite

Thorsteinsson, E. B., Brown, R. F., & Owens, M. T. (2019). Modelling the effects of stress, anxiety, and depression on rumination, sleep, and fatigue in a nonclinical sample. The Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, 207, 355-359.  https://doi.org/10.1097/NMD.0000000000000973