VAntage Point: Researchers at the VA Center of Excellence for Suicide Prevention (COE-SP) are conducting a study to better understand the relationship between sleep disorders and suicidal ideation.
- Successful treatment of sleep problems can have a positive effect on symptoms of other issues. Those issues include depression, diabetes and cardiovascular disease. It can also motivate Veterans to seek care for these other conditions, if needed.
- Veterans who choose to seek both primary and specialty care (such as treatment for a sleep disorder) are likely to follow through with recommended treatments that can improve their health overall.
- When a Veteran visits a sleep clinic multiple times, clinicians may look for or recognize an underlying disorder like depression or PTSD. Sleep specialists can then help the Veteran get treatment for the underlying condition which the Veteran might not have otherwise recognized. That treatment can lead to better sleep.
