""The association exists even after you control for depression," said lead researcher Rebecca Bernert, a clinical psychology doctoral student at Florida State University. "This finding is important, because sleep disturbances are amenable to treatment, unlike other risk factors, such as past suicide attempts. Sleep problems can be undone," she said. "

"Bernert was scheduled to present the findings Thursday at the annual meeting of the Associated Professional Sleep Societies, in Minneapolis."

"In the study, Bernert reviewed health data on almost 14,500 elderly people aged 67 to 90 years old, tracked over a 10-year period."

"During this period, 21 individuals committed suicide. When each suicide was matched to 20 randomly-selected controls, the researchers found that sleep disturbances, independent of depression, predicted an increased risk for eventual death by suicide."

"Gregg Jacobs, an insomnia specialist with the University of Massachusetts Memorial Medical Center in Worcester, urged caution in attributing the existence of sleep problems, by itself, to an increase in suicide risk."

""The relationship between sleep problems and mortality is a complex one," he said. "Stress, for instance, is co-founded with insomnia, and it is really the stress causing the increased risk ... not just not sleeping well," Jacobs noted."

"Studies also show that regular use of sleeping pills -- strongly linked to insomnia, of course -- also increases the risk for suicide. Those having trouble sleeping also sometimes use alcohol and drugs to self-medicate, and these abuses can raise the risk of mortality, Jacobs said."

"Bernert and her colleagues assessed five types of self-reported sleep complaints in their report: non-restorative sleep, which meant that people may have had a full night's sleep but did not feel rested upon awakening; difficulty falling asleep; difficulty staying asleep; early-morning awakenings, and feelings of restless during the day."

"When people reported
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