People who sleep less than five hours a night are up to three times more likely to become mentally ill than those sleeping eight or nine hours, the report said.
A 17-24 year old sleeps on average eight to nine hours per night, but this figure has been decreasing due to the amount of time young people spend on electronic gadgets in their bedrooms.
Researchers from George Institute for Global Health in Sydney, Australia, analysed the sleeping habits of almost 20,000 people aged between 17 and 24.
They found over half of those who got fewer than six hours sleep had high levels of psychological distress, compared with one quarter of those who slept eight to nine hours a night.
Professor Nick Glozier, who led the study, said: "Over the past few decades young adults have been sleeping fewer and fewer hours, whereas the rest of us have generally been sleeping more hours.
"There's a whole load of gadgets that kids and young adults now have in their bedrooms that they never used to have.
"Yet of course they have to get up and go to school or college or go to university at exactly the same time. So there's a group of them who are becoming more and more sleep-deprived."
A lack of sleep could have potentially serious effects, he said.
Read more at The Telegraph
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