Acute Insomnia And Depression
One trigger of acute insomnia may be a stressful work environment. Those struggling with long working hours, such as medical residents may experience acute insomnia at the same time that they experience these work environments. In this study, residents were questioned whether they were experiencing any symptoms of insomnia. 85.9% of residents affirmed that they were experiencing acute insomnia caused by long working hours and stressful job situations. Many of those who were experiencing acute insomnia were also experiencing mild or moderate depressive symptoms. As studied, 67% of those who slept less than six hours the previous night were experiencing depressive symptoms. Out of those who were experiencing depressive symptoms, 45% labeled their symptoms as mild, and 21% labeled their symptoms as moderate to severe.
Thankfully, there are melatonin treatments that can help with symptoms of acute insomnia. There are many over-the-counter melatonin supplements that someone with low melatonin levels can take. The effect of melatonin can help the person struggling to sleep greatly. Going about a melatonin treatment should be supervised by a doctor to ensure it will be helpful and safe for you.
Chronic Insomnia and Depression
Take Sleep Problems Seriously
You should tell your doctor if you:
- have trouble falling or staying asleep
- feel tired during the day
- have physical pain, discomfort or other complaints that prevent you from getting a good nights sleep
Treatments such as cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia and continuous positive airway pressure devices for apnea can restore good sleep, helping you sidestep related conditions like depression.
What It Is Its Causes Symptoms And Long
Almost everyone has encountered a zombie-like feeling after a night of minimal or no sleep. Even after just one night without enough rest, we can feel drowsy during the day with slowed thinking, lack of energy, and an irritable mood.
Sleep deprivation is when you dont get the sleep you need, and it is Its estimated to affect around one-third of American adults , a problem that has only worsened in recent years.
Lack of sleep directly affects how we think and feel. While the short-term impacts are more noticeable, chronic sleep deprivation can heighten the long-term risk of physical and mental health problems.
To avoid these problems, its important to avoid sleep deprivation. Understanding this condition, including its causes, symptoms, diagnosis, and treatment can put you in a better position to ensure that youre getting the sleep you need.
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Are All Definitions Of Sleep Deprivation The Same
In sleep medicine, sleep deprivation is defined based on sleep duration, which is the total amount of time a person spends asleep. In reality, though, being well-rested is about more than just how many hours you sleep. As a result, the terms sleep deficiency or sleep insufficiency are more frequently used to describe factors that reduce the quantity and/or quality of sleep and keep a person from waking up refreshed.
In this way, sleep deficiency has a broader application. For example, a person who sleeps for a total of eight hours but with many awakenings that fragment their sleep may have insufficient sleep even though their sleep duration technically meets the recommended amount.
This terminology can be distinct from everyday conversation in which the term sleep deprivation may be used with a wider meaning that refers to poor sleep overall and not just total sleep duration.
Even in the medical field, studies may use different technical definitions of sleep deprivation as some classify it as seven hours of sleep or fewer while others use six hours as the cutoff.
What Is Clinical Depression And Why Is Sleep So Important
Clinical depression is diagnosed as a mood disorder. Depression makes you feel sad, hopeless, helpless, and worthless. While it is normal for everyone to feel sad and hopeless from time to time, but when you suffer from depression, this feeling of sadness is more intense and more prolonged. It may feel like you are in a bad mood or feeling sad all the time. There will also be other associated physical symptoms of depression that will prevent you from living a normal life.
Normal sleep is important for all humans. Normal sleep is said to the restorative state of the body. That means that your body undertakes the process of fixing any wear and tear that happens during the day. Having poor sleep can cause fatigue. When you experience fatigue, you tend to skip exercising, leading to a decline in your level of fitness. After a while, you will find yourself in a vicious cycle of disturbed sleep pattern and inactivity, leading to both mood-related and other physical symptoms.
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Do You Feel Sleep Deprived
Take our 2-minute Sleep Deprivation and Depression quizzes to see if you simply aren’t getting enough sleep or if you may benefit from further diagnosis and treatment.
Sleep deprivation weakens the prefrontal cortexs ability to control the amygdala , making it difficult to process and cope with emotions. When the brain is deprived of adequate sleep, it also struggles to concentrate and regulate growth and appetite.
Sleep deprivation can have a profound effect on both the emotional and cognitive functioning of the brain. This results in bad moods, negative thinking, decreased empathy, and poor impulse control.
The good news is that sleep deprivation can be treated, and getting on a regular sleep cycle can alleviate the above symptoms.
Get Back To Healthy Sleep
People who snore or have sleep apnea often dont realize they have a problem unless someone tells them. Theyre asleep after all! If youd like to find out if snoring or sleep apnea might be causing your fatigue and depression, take my on-line sleep disorder questionnaire. Who doesnt want to sleep well and wake up refreshed?
If you have tried various depression and sleep apnea treatments with no success, consider visiting your dentist about specialized sleep disorder dentistry.
Exploring various treatment options with your dentist could be the answer. Todays advanced technology opens new doors in treatments related to sleep disorders. Common symptoms shared by depression and sleep apnea may be alleviated with a personalized treatment plan developed by your dentist.
Please call to schedule an appointment with Dr. Nehawandian today.
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How Is Depression Diagnosed
Depression can only be diagnosed by a medical professional, so people experiencing symptoms of depression should talk with their doctor, counselor, or psychiatrist. They may ask about the severity of the symptoms and how long theyve persisted. They may also suggest tests that can help them to better understand your situation and monitor changes or improvements over time.
A provider may also refer patients to a specialist in sleep disorders to help determine if there is an underlying sleep disorder, such as sleep apnea or restless leg syndrome, that may be causing depression or contributing to symptoms.
The Link Between Depression And Lack Of Sleep
Sleep deprivation and depression often go hand in hand. For starters, sleep deprivation can have serious effects on your mental health. Chronic sleep problems affect nearly 50 to 80% of patients who visit a common psychiatric practice. Although the connection between sleep and mental health is not yet known, studies suggest that sleep is important for fostering emotional and mental resilience. When sleep-deprived, people are more likely to experience more emotional vulnerability and negative thinking.
Sleep is important for restoring both the body and the brain and when someone experiences either disrupted sleep or not the recommended 7 to 9 hours of sleep per night, it can have harmful effects on mental health. For example, those who suffer from insomnia are 10 times more likely to suffer from depression and 17 times more likely to suffer from anxiety. The less sleep one gets, the more likely they will suffer from a mental health disorder.
So whats preventing patients from getting enough sleep? One of the conditions that can cause you to have disrupted sleep is sleep apnea and it often goes undiagnosed. There are many instances where patients seek help for their mental illnesses but not the underlying cause of them. Without sleep apnea treatment, depression and anxiety disorders might not improve as much as they should.
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Depression Can Be Treated
There are lots of things you can do to treat your symptoms of depression. Antidepressants such as Zoloft or Prozac, talking with a psychologist or psychiatrist, counseling, and meditation can all help. But, if your depression is caused by a breathing-related sleep disorder, a key ingredient in your recovery is better sleep. Your San Jose/Los Gatos dentist can help you if snoring or sleep apnea is stopping you from getting the sleep you need.
How Sleep Affects Mood And Mental Health
3 Minute Read
Sleep is essential to both your physical and mental health. Lack of sleep can cause daytime drowsiness, difficulty concentrating, and forgetfulness. But the long-term psychological effects of sleep deprivation are far more serious.
Most adults need seven to nine hours of uninterrupted sleep per night. Many people are scraping by with as little as three or four hours because insomnia makes it difficult for them to fall and stay asleep.
Insomnia can severely disrupt your brains productivity. It can negatively affect your mood, energy levels, and ability to concentrate.
Insomnia also can increase stress, which heightens your risk of serious problems, such as depression and anxiety.
People with chronic insomnia are 10 times more likely to be diagnosed with clinical depression, and 17 times more likely to develop an anxiety disorder.
Insomnia is sometimes the first sign of an existing or developing mental illness. It can signal a major depressive disorder, an anxiety disorder, and post-traumatic stress disorder . Prolonged sleep deprivation also can worsen an existing disorder.
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Improve Sleep And Avoid Anxiety
To prevent anxiety, stress, and development of depression, it would be better to improve your sleeping habits:
What Is Sleep Apnea And How Does It Affect Your Mind And Body
Sleep apnea occurs while you sleep often brought to your attention by someone close to you. Most likely you have been told you snore like a freight train or you stop breathing for a few seconds maybe you do both.
When you are asleep, your body relaxes as a result, the soft tissues at the back of your mouth also relax, causing them to obstruct the airways. This causes a decrease in oxygen flow to your brain the brain signals your body to wake briefly to tighten those tissues and open the airway. Snoring and pauses in your breathing during sleep are common symptoms of sleep apnea. These disruptions in sleep prevent you from achieving a good nights sleep. Without enough sleep your body essentially wears out, you may become irritable and develop symptoms similar to those of depression.
Studies have shown sleep apnea may be a reason anti-depressant treatments sometimes fail. Sleep apnea may cause depressed moods, fatigue, and tiredness. Depression and sleep apnea share similar symptoms, one can affect the severity of the other and make it difficult to get an accurate diagnosis and treatment.
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Whats The Link Between Sleep Disorders And Depression
An inability to sleep is one of the key signs of clinical depression. Another sign of clinical depression is sleeping too much or .
Having a sleep disorder does not in itself cause depression, but lack of sleep does play a role. Lack of sleep caused by another medical condition, a sleep disorder, or personal problems can make depression worse. An inability to sleep that lasts over a long period of time is also an important clue that someone may be depressed.
Which One Is It
Mild emotional symptoms and difficulty concentrating when you know you are dealing with sleep debt can likely be attributed to sleep deprivation. While sleep debt can be dangerous , it can be remedied with proper sleep hygiene and stress reduction techniques.
Major depressive disorder, on the other hand, can significantly impair functioning and requires further treatment than proper sleep and stress reduction. A depressed mood that lasts two weeks or longer is a red flag to seek help from a licensed mental health practitioner. If you or a loved one experiences suicidal thoughts, dial 911 or go the nearest emergency room for an evaluation.
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Get Help For Both Depression And Sleep
If you have insomnia and depression, dont assume that medical treatment for one will automatically cure the other. Treatments for depression, such as selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors and other medications, may improve your mood and outlook, but they may not be enough to improve your sleep.
Theres some evidence that lingering sleep problems in people undergoing depression treatment increase the risk of a slide back into depression. The good news: Theres also some early evidence that CBT-I , along with depression treatment, improves sleep in people with depression and may increase the chances of a remission of depression.
Poor Quality Sleep Reduces Resilience
In a recent Johns Hopkins study, healthy women and men whose sleep wasinterrupted throughout the night had a 31 percent reduction in positivemoods the next day. Sleep interruptions interfere with deep, restorativeslow-wave sleep, explains lead researcher Patrick Finan, Ph.D. Ongoing insomnia could increase a persons risk of depression, he says, byweakening their emotional resiliencethe buffer of positive emotions thathelps people deal with stress and challenges of life.
Sleep Boosts Mental Wellbeing
Given that a single sleepless night can make you irritable and moody the following day, it’s not surprising that chronic sleep debt may lead to long-term mood disorders like clinical depression and generalised anxiety disorder in adults.
When people with anxiety or depression were surveyed to calculate their sleeping habits, it turned out that most of them slept for less than 6 hours a night.
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What Problems Might I Have With Sleep
Everyone needs sleep, but many of us have problems with it. You might recognise some of the experiences listed below, or have other difficulties with sleep that aren’t mentioned here.
You might:
- find it hard to fall asleep, stay asleep or wake up earlier than you’d like to
- have problems that disturb your sleep, such as panic attacks, flashbacks, nightmares or psychosis
- find it hard to wake up or get out of bed
- often feel tired or sleepy this could be because you’re not sleeping enough, not getting good quality sleep or because of health problems
- sleep a lot which could include sleeping at times when you want, or need, to be awake.
“When I get depressed, I sleep so much at its worst it was 18 hours a day, because it was the only way that I could stop thinking and stop my mind from saying awful things to me.”
If you’re having problems sleeping, you might:
- be more likely to feel anxious, depressed or suicidal
- be more likely to have psychotic episodes poor sleep can trigger mania, psychosis or paranoia, or make existing symptoms worse
- feel lonely or isolated for example, if you don’t have the energy to see people or they don’t seem to understand
- struggle to concentrate, or make plans and decisions
- feel irritable or not have energy to do things
- have problems with day to day life for example, at work or with family and friends
- be more affected by other health problems, including mental health problems.
Addressing Or Preventing Sleep Deprivation
If you regularly wake up unrefreshed and are tired during the day, its time to take action to get the sleep you need. It can be tempting to simply pop a pill when youre desperate to get some rest. But theres much you can do to improve the quantity and quality of your sleep, without having to rely on medication.
While sleeping pills or sleep aids can be useful for short-term use, theyre not a cure and dont address the underlying causes of your sleep problemand over time may even make your symptoms worse. Instead, there are a number of lifestyle and behavioral changes you can make to address sleep deprivation and get your sleep schedule back on track.
Calm your anxious mind at night. Avoid screens, work, and stressful conversations in the hour before bed. Instead, develop a relaxing bedtime routine that enables you to wind down and calm your mind. Try taking a warm bath, listening to soft music or an audiobook, reading by a dim light, or practicing a relaxation technique such as deep breathing, meditation, or progressive muscle relaxation.
Postpone worrying. If you lie awake at night anxiously fretting, make a brief note of your worries on paper and allow yourself to postpone worrying until the following day. When youre refreshed after a good nights sleep, youll be in a much better place to deal with the problem.
Maintain a regular sleep schedule. By going to bed and getting up at the same time every day, including weekends, youll support your biological clock.
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Chronic Vs Acute Sleep Deprivation And Depression
Studies suggest that chronic sleep deprivation, or reduced sleep over time, may lead to depression due to changes in the brains neurotransmitter serotonin.
On the other hand, acute sleep deprivation may help combat depression, though this is not without side effects and more research is needed before this can be considered a treatment option.???