Getting a good night's sleep may help prevent and treat depression in teens.

A study published in the journal Sleep shows the more sleep adolescents get, the better it is for their mental health.

Teens who slept for five or less hours a night were 71 percent more likely to be depressed.

And 48 percent are more likely to have suicidal thoughts compared to teens who got a full night's rest.

The study recommends teenagers go to bed by ten or earlier, and get a full nine hours of sleep daily to stop them from developing depression.

"It's kind of a common idea that older adolescents don't need as much sleep as younger adolescents, but that's really not true--they still need about 9 hours of sleep at night," Dr. James E. Gangwisch of Columbia University Medical Center in New York City told Reuters Health.

There was no connection between a teen's set bedtime and how much they felt their parents cared for them. But there was a strong link between bedtime and whether of not that teen felt he or she was getting enough sleep.

Source: Reuters