Sleep Deprivation and Depression

We all have our bad days and feelings of gloom, however, if these feelings happen more often than not and prevent you from living a normal life, it may be the early stages of depression.

While depression isn’t caused by a lack of sleep alone, not getting enough sleep does play an important role in contributing to depression. Recent studies have inferred that those suffering from sleep disorders are more likely to develop depression and the like. The severity of the sleep disorder is directly connected to the risk of depression. Another study supports the statistic that those who are depressed are five times more likely to have a breathing-related sleep disorder (compared to people not living with depression).

Antidepressants are often prescribed to those who are depressed, helping to put the person in a better mood and over their illness. But, some antidepressants can also prompt and aggravate certain sleep disorders. This seems to be the case between antidepressants and REM behavior disorder; while people are asleep, they are inclined to act out their often violent dreams.

Antidepressant drug use is becoming more prevalent among young patients and more and more people are turning to prescription medications to fix their problems, instead of dealing with the underlying issue of their depression.

Depressed? We Can Help

Call Dr. Grin today at (310) 933-3077