Depression and Insomnia
There has always been a link between depression and insomnia. Whenever someone feels mentally bad, this has almost an immediate impact on his sleep.
While research shows that the vast majority of depresses people have insomnia, it also indicates that a small minority actually over sleeps.
The latest theories linking depression and insomnia believe insomnia to be some sort of an early sign of depression. Dr. Michael Perlis, an associate professor of psychiatry and psychology at the University of Rochester and an authority on the subject of sleep research, believes that insomnia precedes an occurrence of depression by a few weeks.
Perlis believes that distorted sleep can cause depression, and that therefore treating insomnia may delay depression, or at least keep it from being chronic.
If we examine the sleep patterns of people suffering from depression, we not only do we find that they tend to wake up early without being able to fall asleep, but also that their entire sleeping cycle is abnormal. In particular, patients with depression tend to experience an intense, longer then normal stage of REM sleep, the stage when dreaming is done.
As it is believed that the REM stage serves to consolidate memories, it is therefore hypothesized that depresses people intensely consolidate distressing memories.
However, there is another side to depression and insomnia: some research has found that with regard to a certain number of depressed patients, insomnia actually had an antidepressant effect. Dr. Perlis believes that when insomnia first occurs it causes an improvement in the production of Serotonin (which has a positive effect on mood), while decreasing the hyper arousal that stressed people are experiencing. However, when the people suffering from this first wave of insomnia try to compensate themselves for sleep deprivation ( e.g. by going to bed early, or staying in bed longer then needed ) –it this kind of behavior is actually what perpetuates insomnia. The consequences of poor sleep, including frustration, trouble in concentration, and inability to enjoy social life, leads to pessimism, and eventually to depression.
Dr. Perlis believes that behavioral treatment intended to deal with insomnia can therefore either prevent depression, reduce its magnitude, or speed up the healing process, depending on the stage in which the patient is treated.
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