Sleep and Depression (A Twitter Response Post)
If you sleep less than 8 hours a night, you’re more likely to:
— JACK BLY (@TheJackBly) August 16, 2022
1. Lose memory
2. Gain weight
3. Get diabetes
4. Have a stroke
5. Have a heart attack
6. Experience depression
7. Have high blood pressure
Want to avoid these?
Start doing these 9 habits tonight:
I know that sleep and depression have a relationship. I have written about how depression even in the pediatric population can lead to sleep problems. It there buried deep into one of these posts I have been writing for close to 3 weeks now.
In yesterday’s post, we saw how depression can be related to the seasons and we talked about light therapy for treating this condition. We saw how those with a major depressive disorder are more likely to suffer from this seasonal depression, also those with anxiety and bipolar affective disorder.
Seeking a therapist and physicians for therapy and medications can be very helpful for this condition.
In this post, we will be diving into the relationship between sleep and depression. I’ve read severally that sleep changes could be a symptom of depression and how those who suffer depression untreated can develop sleep problems.
Hello, there my name is Ebingo Kigigha, I am a medical doctor, and illustrator and I sing a bit. I’m glad I can say that now because I participated in this week's Hive Open Mic. I hope to explore Afritune and other music communities. It's all in the bid to fight depression. I am thinking of doing a fun show with people I meet on the street and singing with them…for fun.
If you don’t know much about depression well then this is the page for you. On this page, that’s all I write about on STEMsocial. I’m forming a small blog called Medic Vibes. I also make merch under that name and the target market is medics. I don’t know if medics will be so interested in my post… but I will figure this out.
Let’s stick to the topic…Depression
Depression is a medical condition that has severe complications that can lead to death. People who are depressed show a sad mood and are not interested in the things they love anymore. They also have problems with sleep, eating problems and weight problems.
People with depression die usually by suicide but they first start having ideas about suicide and special care is needed to save their lives.
If a loved one expresses a need to end their life then action needs to be taken. You need to call for help.
I prepared a list of numbers that might help here:
Check your country's suicide hotlines here.
Sleep and Depression
Home illustrations by Storyset
I have already mentioned a lot about depression and sleep above and in previous posts. I read from Sleep Foundation that sleep problems are very common in those dealing with depression and that physicians hesitate to make a diagnosis if there is no sleep symptom.
The relationship between the two conditions seems to form a vicious cycle. When you sleep less, you develop depression and you have depression you tend to sleep less. This is a wild wind of problems once the complications start working together.
According to the National library of medicine, about 3 out of 4 people dealing with depression have insomnia, while around 20% will suffer from sleep apnea and the remaining 15% have hypersomnia.
It is interesting to note that sleep apnea is due to oxidative stress that takes place during the depression.
In 22 studies including close to 29,000 patients a small but significant effect on depression in adolescents.
The sleep changes seen in Major depressive disorder are more constant, seen daily while those of persistent depressive disorder, seasonal affective disorder, and premenstrual dysphoric disorder tend to be milder or only appear in a particular period.
According to the sleep foundation, there is a relationship between neurotransmitters such as serotonin which affect circadian rhythm and our body's sleep-wake cycle.
If you are having issues with sleep, @theblackbly in his post gave some tips. Let's discuss them here.
Tips
According to his tweet, he made mentioned light being a regulator of the body temperature. Well according to Pub med this happens acutely but it is true non the less.
At night when there is less light, our bodies tend to be cooler.
He mentioned that sunlight can trigger melatonin and that this helps with sleep I am not aware if sunlight does this.
According to NCBI however, there are claims that sunlight can be an effective treatment for insomnia related to premenstrual syndrome and Seasonal Affective Disorder.
It's interesting to note that he said artificial light can trick the brain to think that the sun is still out and this should be limited to 2-3 hours according to Health Havard this was found to be true.
Hive Stories
Today's Hive story is from @galenkp, my favourite person for overall coolness and badassness. What I find very admirable about him is his love for the outdoors and a lifestyle that requires fewer people for fulfilment. If that's not you...that's ok.
In his post, he explains how the statement "practice makes perfect" can be harmful if you misinterpreted it or use it wrongly...or even use it at all.
As he explained practice may never make perfect. I agree with this because we are humans and humans only get closer to perfection every day.
If you go through misses by the football gods Messi and Ronaldo? You would think they learned to play football not long ago.
@galenkp explains how you shouldn't seek perfection but constant improvement.
Check out his post here
Questions
- How has lack of sleep or too much sleep affected you?
- What is your advice for a person dealing with sleep problems?
- What will you do differently after reading this post?
Thanks for your contribution to the STEMsocial community. Feel free to join us on discord to get to know the rest of us!
Please consider delegating to the @stemsocial account (85% of the curation rewards are returned).
You may also include @stemsocial as a beneficiary of the rewards of this post to get a stronger support.