{
  "id": 3282310,
  "title": "Poor mental health in new parents predicts worse sleep months later",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/08/25/poor-mental-health-in-new-parents-predicts-worse-sleep-months-later",
  "topic": "health",
  "section": "Health & Medicine",
  "published": "2026-08-25T14:00:31.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "PsyPost",
    "slug": "psypost",
    "url": "https://www.psypost.org/poor-mental-health-predicts-worse-sleep-for-new-parents/"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "Sleep quality and emotional well-being during the postpartum period are closely intertwined, according to a new study. The research, published in Sleep Health, reveals that parental depression and anxiety symptoms can predict poorer sleep quality months later for both mothers and fathers. The study, conducted by researchers from Ben-Gurion University of the Negev in Israel, tracked the sleep and mental health of 232 Israeli couples throughout pregnancy and the first year after the birth of their child. The findings indicate that emotional distress may continue to affect a parent's sleep experience even as the infant begins to sleep through the night. The transition to parenthood involves significant physiological, psychological, and social changes, with up to 70% of mothers and 50% of fathers experiencing sleep disruptions during the postpartum period. Depression and anxiety affect up to 20% of new mothers and 10% of new fathers. Sleep disturbances and mental health symptoms often share a cyclical relationship, as insomnia can trigger depression or anxiety, and vice versa. The period after childbirth is especially vulnerable, as hormonal shifts and new responsibilities can exacerbate these issues. While prior studies have linked early sleep problems to worse maternal mood, this study is one of the first to investigate whether parental emotional distress actively predicts later sleep problems. It also focused on fathers, whose experiences have been understudied. The researchers used actigraphy devices and daily sleep diaries to objectively measure sleep and subjectively assess sleep quality. They also administered standardized questionnaires to assess insomnia, depression, and anxiety symptoms. The study found a strong correlation between self-reported poor sleep quality and higher levels of depression and anxiety. However, the objective actigraphy data did not show a connection between sleep and mental health. The researchers suggest that actigraphy may not capture certain types of postpartum sleep disruptions, such as lying awake with worry. They propose that emotional distress could skew parents' perception of their sleep quality. The statistical models showed that at the baseline level, parents who consistently reported higher insomnia symptoms throughout the year also had higher overall emotional distress. Looking at changes over time, higher depression and anxiety symptoms at eight months postpartum predicted worse subjective sleep quality at twelve months, even though infants typically develop more consolidated sleep patterns by the second half of their first year. The study suggests that as infant-driven sleep disruptions decline, parental distress may increasingly become the primary driver of poor sleep. This delayed effect could be due to changing family routines, such as returning to work and shifting caregiver responsibilities. The research reveals a cyclical relationship between sleep and mental health for fathers, with lower sleep quality at four months predicting increased depression and anxiety at eight months, which then leads to decreased sleep quality at twelve months.",
  "summary": "New parents expect to lose sleep, but a new longitudinal study reveals that early postpartum depression and anxiety can predict worse perceived sleep quality months later, creating a cycle of distress for both mothers and fathers.",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}