Sleep and Depression
Added Friday, February 22nd, 2008 at 10:28 am | View Comments
Depression can affect your sleep more than most people realise, so read on for the latest installment in our Knowledgebase series. If you are looking to buy a new bed, you can browse through our online catalogue full of the cheapest beds online.
Sleep and depression are inextricably linked in a cause and effect relationship that can make both worse. Sleep disturbance is a core symptom of clinical depression and there is also a lot of evidence that people with insomnia can go on to develop depression.
Sleep and depression form a vicious circle which is hard to get out of: you are worried so you can’t sleep, you get tired and worry about not sleeping makes it worse, the more tired you get the harder it is to handle the rest of your life.
How depression can lead to sleep problems
When you are depressed, sleeping can be harder due to worried thoughts going round in your head, frequent night awakenings, and not relaxing enough in bed to drop back off again. 80% of people with depression have some sort of problem with their sleep
In about 15% of people with depression, oversleeping can occur. This is especially common amongst young adults and those with manic depression. Sometimes those with depression want to escape from how they feel and all the things that worry them, so staying in bed is a way to stay separate.
Depression also affects people’s appetites, often making them stop eating and lose weight but sometimes ‘comfort eating’ and gaining weight. Changes in weight affect your health in general, with repercussions on your sleep.
How sleep problems can cause depression
We all know that having a couple of bad night’s sleep affects our performance and mood, and a sleep disorder can be long running and sap much of your energy. As your mood deteriorates it can make getting on with your life harder and take the enjoyment out of things - potentially leading to depression.
Insomnia suffers are more likely to develop depressive disorders and those who have been depressed in the past can relapse if their sleep becomes disrupted. Very severe sleep problems in people with depression have been linked with increased suicide risk, on the other hand improving sleep quality can also help people’s moods.
Treatments
Exercise is increasingly considered to have anti depressant properties, and it’s proven to help people sleep better. So doing some exercise during the day could help both problems as well as provide a good distraction from other things you might be dwelling on. Try not to exercise within a few hours of going to bed though as this makes sleeping harder.
It’s often a good idea to try to handle sleep disorders and depression through behavioural changes before trying medication but the symptoms are diverse, so everyone will need treating differently. Antidepressants sometimes have sedative side effects so can treat both insomnia and depression; there is a huge range of options to treat different types of depression and sleep disorders. Consult your GP if you think you may be suffering from any of the above.
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