Were you still stressed….while you were sleeping?

Abstract

Depression, anxiety and stress, nowadays, are quite common conditions with a prevalence of 60.8%, 64.3% and 62.4% respectively as identified in a study conducted in Egypt.1 Similar trends have been observed in other parts of the world too, for example, Franciscan University in United States showed a 231% increase in annual visits related to issues of mental health. This particularly holds true for college students who are facing innumerable mental health issues these days most notably being depression, anxiety and stress.1,2 Depression refers to a common mental disorder which is characterized by low mood and energy, loss of interest, disturbed appetite and sleep and lowered self-esteem.3 While depression is a well defined mental disorder, anxiety is defined as an apprehensive uneasiness of mind as a consequence of some anticipated trouble.4 On the other hand, stress refers to the reaction of a person to some challenging situation.4,5 Stress results in different body manifestations like irritability, lack of concentration, tension and a variety of physical conditions.5 All these three conditions are characterized by considerable impact on human mind.