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Too Much Rem Sleep Depression

Cure Depression By Combatting Rem

Too much REM sleep: why do depressed people wake up exhausted? | Human Givens

Posted July 1, 2011

Depression involves prolonged sadness and hopelessness, impaired thinking, distorted Self-appraisals, biased memory processing, and unpleasant dreams/nightmares. It has been known for some time that there is a strong relation between sleep and depression. When we get depressed we sleep too much or too little and we wake up too early in the morning. We never feel totally refreshed by sleep and sleep, when it comes, is fitful and punctuated by too many awakenings. I know of no cases of depression without profound disruption of sleep. It may even be that disruption of sleep can trigger depressive episodes. Why is depression so intimately related to sleep? Can an understanding of this relationship help us to treat depressive episodes? One indication that the answer to this question is yes is that one or two nights of deliberate sleep deprivation can result in lifting of mood symptoms for some depressed patients.

Aast Ccsh Designated Education Program

The CCSH Workshop: Designated Education Program has been developed for health professionals working directly with patients as well as their families in sleep medicine education. They also work with other healthcare professionals for coordinating and managing the care of patients and improving outcomes. After completing the online program with a passing score on the post-test, RPSGT credential holders with at least one recertification who meet all BRPT requirements qualify to take the examination for the CCSH credential.

About Kevin Asp, CRT, RPSGT

Because of the implementation of his best practices of Implementing Inbound Marketing in its Medical Practice, he turned the once stagnant online presence of Alaska Sleep Clinic to that of “The Most Trafficked Sleep Center Website in the World” in just 18 months time. He is the President and CEO of inboundMed and enjoys helping sleep centers across the globe grow their business through his unique vision and experience of over 27 years in sleep medicine.

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Too Much Rem Sleep Is Bad For Us As Is Too Little

Ezra Hewing offers further insight into the right quality of sleep, and why it is so important

Regarding your article Is sleep a magic pill for teen wellness in a mental health crisis? , sleep research tells us that good sleep isnt just about getting enough the right quality of sleep is key. It has long been known that worrying and stress increase the intensity of REM sleep, when most dreaming occurs, causing it to start earlier on in the night and reducing the deep sleep needed to repair the brain and body. If intense dreaming continues throughout the night, the person wakes up feeling exhausted and lacking in motivation, which researchers and those who have experienced it know to be the sleep pattern that characterises depression.

So too much REM sleep is bad for us, as is too little. Public health education should seek not only to emphasise the importance of getting enough sleep, but to explain that the stress from unmet emotional needs can cause depression when we have too much REM sleep, or the impulse to act on suicidal thoughts when we dont have enough. Ezra HewingHead of Education, Suffolk Mind

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What Happens When Getting Too Much Rem Sleep

Sure, getting too much sleep feels good. But that’s just a temporary feeling! People often think that “catching up” on sleep and getting over ten hours of it will have them feel energized, but that’s not the case. Here are the things that happen when you get much REM sleep:

REM sleep is needed to clear your brain of unnecessary things. It’s crucial for regulating your emotions and memories because of it. It also keeps your body working correctly, as it’s the peak of the body’s protein synthesis. But with that being said, so much REM , can lead to a heart disease risk because of your heart rate is faster than usual during extended periods of time.

And we all know that too much sleep can also cause lack of concentration and daytime drowsiness. As a result, the sleepiness doesn’t only affect your productivity, but your mood as well. It can pose a risk when you are handling heavy machinery or while driving to work.Excessive amounts of REM sleep can reduce the amount of time you spend when in a deep sleep. Some people would enter REM sleep almost right after they fall asleep!

And when this happens, the body will not begin it’s paralysis state and will have the sleeper act out their dreams. Sometimes it can be sleepwalking, other times, you are talking or even shouting and hitting your partner. This disrupts your partner’s sleep while endangering your life as well.

What Causes Oversleeping

8 Tips for How to Get More REM Sleep

While oversleeping can be a symptom of atypical depression, there are different factors that also contribute to it. When someone is depressed, it can be because they sleep as a form of escape, says Dr. Drerup. They may be thinking, I dont have anything to look forward to so why do I even start the day?

Its also possible that if you or someone else is oversleeping, theres an underlying sleep disorder. Sleep apnea is commonly comorbid with depression, she adds. In that case, a person is often experiencing non-restorative sleep at night so theyre not rested even after eight hours. So then they oversleep in trying to catch up.

During sleep apnea, a person will stop breathing repeatedly during their sleep, sometimes hundreds of times during the night. Because of what Dr. Drerup calls fragmented and disrupted sleep, they often dont get into the deeper stages of sleep or get as much REM sleep as they need. As a result, theyll feel exhausted even if they have slept an adequate number of hours.

Another factor that could cause oversleeping in a depressed individual is an interruption to a persons circadian rhythm, a disruption to their bodys internal clock. In fact, according to Dr. Drerup, sometimes its not so much someone is oversleeping so much as theyre simply sleeping on a delayed sleep phase.

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Getting Back On Track

If oversleeping is a symptom of depression, its most important to see a healthcare provider for treatment of that depression. And even if someone is being treated for depression, the sleep difficulties can be residual. Sleep can remain a struggle because its developed a life of its own and become very habitual, she says.

Dr. Drerup does have a few suggestions on how you can avoid falling into bad sleep habits that could exacerbate the sleep situation. These techniques can make a huge difference for people when they implement behavioral changes like this because the mood symptoms arent impairing them.

If people can get out of bed and get a more consistent start to their day, it can make their day better, Dr. Drerup says. They feel like they can be more productive and get more accomplished. And it can help improve their mood and allow them to make other changes over time that helps increase more pleasurable activities and engaging with people instead of the oversleeping and avoidance of interactions.

Hands off the snooze button

This may not be a popular idea given how much its a ritual for so many of us. But Dr. Drerup points out that repeatedly hitting the snooze button doesnt really help you. When you hit the snooze button and you doze for those short seven or eight minute increments, youre getting brief, fragmented sleep periods. You may think youre gradually becoming more alert but really youre developing sleep inertia and your body wants to stay asleep.

So You Suffer From Depression Do You Also Suffer From Insomnia

Disturbed sleep results from thinking about your problems too much. Have you ever been tired but unable to stop thinking? Your fears and worries, can keep you awake. Insomnia happens because your brain waves need to slow down but thinking speeds them up stopping sleep. This is creating stress at night and will certainly prevent a peaceful nights sleep which will help your energy level and improve your mental awareness.

It has been found that those suffering from insomnia are many times more likely to suffer from clinical depression or anxiety. If you notice a change in your sleeping patterns, this could be a sign of internal mental health problems that need to be sorted out. Both disturbed sleep and sleeping too much can be symptoms of depression.

One way to relieve symptoms of depression is through exercise and physical activity but if a person lacks energy because of a sleep problem then they may do less exercise and feel worse. the good thing about exercise, though, is that it can actually increase your energy levels.

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Why You Need To Cure Your Insomnia Before You Can Cure Your Depression

When you are tired life is difficult and joyless. Insomnia strengthens your fear of lack of control. If you cant sleep well you begin to feel less in control of your life.

Depression feeds insomnia and vice-versa.

One other problem is that insomnia, or difficulty in falling asleep in the first place, can cause stress and you may come to worry about not sleeping so in effect the problem becomes the problem. The solution is to relax, but how can you if you are worried about falling asleep? The good news is there are solutions. Well come to that in a moment.

First cure your insomnia and you will feel better in mind and body making recovery possible.

Sleep Parameters Related To Overnight Consolidation Performance

REM Sleep – How Much Sleep Do You Need

As procedural memory data was only available in Dataset A and Dataset B, the following part will exclude Dataset C. No interaction effects between group and sleep architecture parameters were found.

Spectral power

Given the significant group differences in the delta range in Dataset A, we checked if this group difference was related to overnight consolidation performance. However, no interaction effect between group and average SWA/delta power between 14.6Hz on overnight consolidation was significant, nor in Dataset B . In addition, no between-group interaction with average sigma power between 13.6-14.6Hz on overnight consolidation was found.

Sleep Spindles

In Dataset A, given the already lowered spindle density in patients, their impaired consolidation for finger tapping compared to controls seemed to be less pronounced with increasing spindle density = 2.07, p = .042). After removing the same outlier in the patient group as before, however, this interaction effect vanished . No other interaction with other spindle parameters reached significance.

In Dataset B, no interactions between spindle density, count, amplitude, duration or frequency, and group on overnight consolidation were found.

SW-spindle coupling

In Dataset B, no significant interaction effect between SW-spindles count, delay its dispersion, and group between any of the groups .

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Depression And Sleep: Understanding The Connection

Depression and sleep problems are closely linked. People withinsomnia, for example, may have a tenfold higher risk of developing depression thanpeople who get a good nights sleep. And among people with depression, 75percent have trouble falling asleep or staying asleep.

Which comes first? Either one can be the starting point, says Johns Hopkins sleep researcher Patrick H. Finan, Ph.D. Poor sleep may create difficulties regulating emotions that, in turn, may leave you more vulnerable to depression in the futuremonths or even years from now. And depression itself is associated with sleep difficulties such as shortening the amount of restorative slow-wave sleep a person gets each night.

If you have depression , daily stressessuch as financial worries, an argument with your spouse, or a jam-packed evening commutecould also lead to more nighttime wake-ups and more trouble getting back to sleep than someone without depression would experience.

Understanding the relationship between insomnia and depression can help you spot risks early, get the right help, and recover more fully if you are experiencing both. Youll feel healthy, well-rested, and able to enjoy life again. Heres what you need to know about depression and sleep:

The Rem Theory Of Sleep And Why Its Not Quite Right

Sleep consists of a number of stages, one of which is termed REM sleep. The REM stage of sleep is linked to dreaming and during this stage our brain activity levels are similar to what they are when weâre awake.

There are also non-REM sleep stages, with the the most important of these being NREM slow-wave sleep. Thatâs the type of sleep we need to feel refreshed in the morning.

During sleep, we alternate between REM and NREM stages and itâs been found that people living with depression spend a greater amount of their sleep time in the REM stages.567

This has led to the suggestion that increased REM sleep leads to depression. This is something you may have read online or in earlier scientific literature relating to sleep science and depression but it isnât strictly true.

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The Importance Of Therapy

Therapy can actually help to improve sleep because it helps you to deal with difficulties, and instead of the mind ruminating, discussion helps to make you feel more positive about possible solutions and also provides a feeling of support. Talking can also help to put problems into perspective and also open your eyes to things you hadnt thought of while thinking alone over and over may become very negative.

I advise you to try online therapy you can try it free and then if you find it helpful, book sessions with a qualified therapist at a convenient time all online!

Types Of Depressive Disorders

Getting too much sleep has risks

Significant feelings of sadness or a loss of interest in their normal daily activities are common in all depressive disorders. Specific forms of depression vary based on the severity of symptoms and the situation in which they develop.

The most well-known type is major depressive disorder, and it is marked by symptoms that affect a person virtually every day for an extended period of time. It commonly involves sleep disruptions.

Persistent depressive disorder, also called dysthymia or chronic depression, may involve fewer symptoms than major depression, but symptoms last for at least two years and any symptom-free period lasts no longer than two months.

Other types of depression, such as premenstrual dysphoric disorder and seasonal affective disorder tend to come and go over shorter periods but can also involve significant sleeping problems.

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Lack Of Slow Wave Sleep

Different authors have reported a lack of slow-wave sleep in depression, although not all research shows this decrease. When it comes to NREM sleep and depression, decreased slow-wave sleep appears more pronounced in the NREM sleep period, altering its distribution during the nighttime. Also observed is delta power reduction in quantitative electroencephalography research conducted during sleep.

Some Components Of Cbti Can Target Depression

Most CBTi courses, ours included, will recommend some form of sleep rescheduling, which usually involves setting a fixed getting up time and reducing the time spent in bed for a short period.

This approach is called sleep restriction therapy but itâs badly named as the intention is not to restrict the amount of sleep that a person gets â rather to consolidate their sleep and restrict the time they spend in bed awake.

Sleep restriction therapy usually results in mild sleep deprivation in the early stages. This can lead to an increase in slow-wave sleep which may be whatâs driving the mood improvements that have been observed in some people with depression when they complete a course of CBTi. 1112

Of course, prolonged sleep deprivation to lift mood is unsustainable but the science does suggest that sleep restriction can be an effective, short-term, non-drug approach that can complement any antidepressant medication a person may be taking.

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Interrupted Sleep Lost Benefit

The effect of REM sleep on overnight adaptation of amygdala reactivity to own-singing stimuli increased with both the total number and integrated activity of spindles during TTR episodes .

When the out-of-tune singing was replayed the next day, participants with more REM sleep experienced less activation of the amygdala compared with those who had restless REM sleep. The latter group’s reactivity was actually increased.

“The more restful REM sleep a person had, the better the overnight adaptation of the amygdala,” said Van Someren.

“The effect of REM sleep on amygdala adaptation was enhanced if preceding episodes of TTR sleep were of longer duration, contained more spindles, or showed higher total integrated spindle activity,” the investigators write.

However, the effect is counteracted if REM episodes have “abundant interruptions, up to the point that the benefit of REM sleep is completely lost,” they add.

These findings “underscore the importance of an integrated approach to the functional role of sleep,” they write.

Both restless REM sleep and a hyperactive amygdala are common in individuals with insomnia, posttraumatic stress disorder , depression, or an anxiety disorder. It affects “no less than two thirds of people with a mental disorder,” Van Someren said.

Poor Quality Sleep Reduces Resilience

Sleep On It – Preventing Unsafe Sleep Practices

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.

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