After 2 months with only 3 or 4 hours of sleep per night could this lead to depression?
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8 Responses to “Does sleep deprivation/insomnia lead to depression after 2 months?”
Yes, eventually leading to actual physical and mental damage that is difficult to recover from. Please go to a sleep specialist to get evaluated. Until then try those PM sleep pain relievers – I had insomnia for years and my long-term memory was a disaster; I took Ambien for about 15 years then discovered that the generic over the counhter headache relief PM drugs helped me almost as much.
Yes, 2 months is an awfully long time to sleep 3 to 4 hours a night. You might ask yourself if there was an incident that caused you have troubles with sleep. Have you been under more stress than usual?
Sleep problems and depression both affect each other. In other words, depression often causes problems with sleep. On the other hand, sleep deprivation can lead to depression.
You might consider seeing a doctor to see if there is any medical reason for not sleeping well. Sometimes, doctors will refer you to a psychiatrists, who specializes in treating mood disorders and also can help you with sleep.
One problem with doctors, in my opinion, is that many of them think that almost any problem can be solved with pills, pills, pills. You might have better luck by first seeing a licensed counselor or psychotherapist. They can offer suggestions that might improve your sleep.
Below is a very long list I once wrote about ways to fall asleep. The list is so long that reading it might put you to sleep
What helped me a lot to fall asleep, especially when my mind was racing, was to lie in bed and listen to relaxation CDs, especially those that contain someone speaking with relaxing music in the background. The combination of voice and music is very soothing. Many of these CDs are available on eBay for very low prices.
A warm bath is a great way to help you to sleep (depending on the season). If you can’t take a bath, you can give yourself a foot massage with slightly warm massage oil, sesame oil, or castor oil from a health food store.
A helpful technique is to relax your body one part at a time. So you could relax your feet, your lower legs, upper legs, moving up from your lower belly up to your chest, etc., until your whole body is relaxed.
Of course, guided relaxation methods can help, imagining yourself in the country, the beach, or whatever is most soothing to you.
If you have annoying thoughts or personal issues that run through your mind when you are trying to sleep, you might have to deal with those issues first. You might want to talk to a counselor or therapist about that. I suggest avoiding prescription sleeping pills unless nothing else helps.
There are herbs that might help you to sleep, eg, valerian root, kava kava, chamomile, hops, passion flower, skullcap. Probably, valerian root and kava kava are the best. However, what most people don’t realize is that it can take a few weeks for some herbs to build up in your system before they work.
The minerals calcium and magnesium might be helpful for sleep. You can also try 5-HTP, trytophan, or melatonin (about 3 mg). I would not take melatonin for over a month unless your doctor says it is ok.
Of course. Not getting enough sleep for one day is enough to send you to depression. What’s more with two months? You might have a sleep disorder so you better check with your doctor. If you have one, you’ll need CPAP or BiPAP supplies and getting those reimbursed will be very hard. So if ever you’ll need these supplies reimbursed, you’d better get some help from this organization that helps people get free medical supplies that help with Sleep Apnea and other sleep disorders. They’re a breeze to work with.
Both of the conditions you’ve mention are regulated by the same neurotransmitter; Serotonin.
So yes, if you’re deprived of sleep you can become depressed and vise versa.
One thing i always like to mention on posts about sleep is Circadian Rhythm. This is your body’s internal clock. Your body likes to fall asleep and wake up at the same time or in other words it likes to stay in circadian rhythm. It can take weeks to adjust and get back in rhythm, until then you’ll probably experience alot of trouble getting to sleep.
The best homeopathic ways of getting to sleep is getting your room as dark as possible, that means no TV! As your eyes dialate to let more light into the pupil as the room darken melatonin is released in brain and helps induce sleep.
I’ve noticed it also helps if you excercise or even go for a short run around noon, not only does that help physical health but i’ve found it helps with the restless feeling.
If you find yourself at the stage where you want to take sleep aids i wouldn’t recommend taking anything a doctor would prescribe as any of those could lead to depedancy. However, there are over the counter sleep SUPPLEMENTS like Melatonin that can help you get to sleep, but, as a previous poster had mentioned, talk to your doctor if you’re using it for over a month
February 27th, 2010 at 2:13 am
Yes, absolutely. I would probably be depressed long before two months.
February 27th, 2010 at 4:11 am
Yes, eventually leading to actual physical and mental damage that is difficult to recover from. Please go to a sleep specialist to get evaluated. Until then try those PM sleep pain relievers – I had insomnia for years and my long-term memory was a disaster; I took Ambien for about 15 years then discovered that the generic over the counhter headache relief PM drugs helped me almost as much.
February 27th, 2010 at 4:26 am
Yes, 2 months is an awfully long time to sleep 3 to 4 hours a night. You might ask yourself if there was an incident that caused you have troubles with sleep. Have you been under more stress than usual?
Sleep problems and depression both affect each other. In other words, depression often causes problems with sleep. On the other hand, sleep deprivation can lead to depression.
You might consider seeing a doctor to see if there is any medical reason for not sleeping well. Sometimes, doctors will refer you to a psychiatrists, who specializes in treating mood disorders and also can help you with sleep.
One problem with doctors, in my opinion, is that many of them think that almost any problem can be solved with pills, pills, pills. You might have better luck by first seeing a licensed counselor or psychotherapist. They can offer suggestions that might improve your sleep.
Below is a very long list I once wrote about ways to fall asleep. The list is so long that reading it might put you to sleep
What helped me a lot to fall asleep, especially when my mind was racing, was to lie in bed and listen to relaxation CDs, especially those that contain someone speaking with relaxing music in the background. The combination of voice and music is very soothing. Many of these CDs are available on eBay for very low prices.
A warm bath is a great way to help you to sleep (depending on the season). If you can’t take a bath, you can give yourself a foot massage with slightly warm massage oil, sesame oil, or castor oil from a health food store.
A helpful technique is to relax your body one part at a time. So you could relax your feet, your lower legs, upper legs, moving up from your lower belly up to your chest, etc., until your whole body is relaxed.
Of course, guided relaxation methods can help, imagining yourself in the country, the beach, or whatever is most soothing to you.
If you have annoying thoughts or personal issues that run through your mind when you are trying to sleep, you might have to deal with those issues first. You might want to talk to a counselor or therapist about that. I suggest avoiding prescription sleeping pills unless nothing else helps.
There are herbs that might help you to sleep, eg, valerian root, kava kava, chamomile, hops, passion flower, skullcap. Probably, valerian root and kava kava are the best. However, what most people don’t realize is that it can take a few weeks for some herbs to build up in your system before they work.
The minerals calcium and magnesium might be helpful for sleep. You can also try 5-HTP, trytophan, or melatonin (about 3 mg). I would not take melatonin for over a month unless your doctor says it is ok.
February 27th, 2010 at 6:29 am
Of course. Not getting enough sleep for one day is enough to send you to depression. What’s more with two months? You might have a sleep disorder so you better check with your doctor. If you have one, you’ll need CPAP or BiPAP supplies and getting those reimbursed will be very hard. So if ever you’ll need these supplies reimbursed, you’d better get some help from this organization that helps people get free medical supplies that help with Sleep Apnea and other sleep disorders. They’re a breeze to work with.
February 27th, 2010 at 9:36 am
Both of the conditions you’ve mention are regulated by the same neurotransmitter; Serotonin.
So yes, if you’re deprived of sleep you can become depressed and vise versa.
One thing i always like to mention on posts about sleep is Circadian Rhythm. This is your body’s internal clock. Your body likes to fall asleep and wake up at the same time or in other words it likes to stay in circadian rhythm. It can take weeks to adjust and get back in rhythm, until then you’ll probably experience alot of trouble getting to sleep.
The best homeopathic ways of getting to sleep is getting your room as dark as possible, that means no TV! As your eyes dialate to let more light into the pupil as the room darken melatonin is released in brain and helps induce sleep.
I’ve noticed it also helps if you excercise or even go for a short run around noon, not only does that help physical health but i’ve found it helps with the restless feeling.
If you find yourself at the stage where you want to take sleep aids i wouldn’t recommend taking anything a doctor would prescribe as any of those could lead to depedancy. However, there are over the counter sleep SUPPLEMENTS like Melatonin that can help you get to sleep, but, as a previous poster had mentioned, talk to your doctor if you’re using it for over a month
February 27th, 2010 at 11:05 am
Depression is only one of the negative effects of sleep deprivation.
Do yourself a favour and get to the root of your problem before it gets worse.
Speak with your doctor or try to figure out what is keeping you awake.
May be you just need more physical activity during the day so your body gets tired.
February 27th, 2010 at 12:16 pm
Yes. Depression is the one side effects of sleep apnea
February 27th, 2010 at 1:13 pm
I have been taking sleeping pills for over 25 years.I’m not depressed.My nick name is SunShine..