Tokyo ? Sleep deprivation may trigger serious mental illnesses in young people that persist into adulthood, researchers in Australia have found.

Young adults who habitually sleep fewer than five hours a night are three times more likely to develop psychiatric disorders than those who get eight to nine hours of shut-eye, according to the research published Tuesday in the journal Sleep.

The study is the first to look at the link between sleep and mental illnesses in young people and highlights the need for early intervention to avoid lifelong problems, said Nick Glozier, a psychology professor at the University of Sydney, who led the research. The findings build on earlier studies that show sleep deprivation can lead to health conditions including heart diseases, high blood pressure and weight gain.

The implication is on “that group of young people with chronic persisting mental ill-health who go on to develop more adult forms of disorders like major depressive disorders and bipolar and those other, more serious lifelong conditions,” Glozier said in a telephone interview Tuesday. “No one has really looked at this idea of the chronic, persisting mental ill-health problems.”