Chicken or the Egg?? Sleep/Depression

Okay, I've debated this in my own weird mind.  I'd like to know everyone's opinion on sleep and depression.  

What I wonder is if sleep distrubance/insomnia is more a cause of or a symptom of depression.  Does depression cause sleep problems or is the other way around.  

I know there is not a right or wrong or one size fits all answer.  What is your opinion?

[therese83]

I wonder too.  After 3 - 4 nights of not sleeping I became severely depressed and there was no going back without medication.

I kind of think all the seratonin is gone so you cannot stay asleep and also you are depressed.

Well that is the conclusion I have come to, they start together because of the lack of seratonin?

[creston1966]

Thank you for your comments.  Which causes which though?  Loss of sleep impacting seratonin levels.  Or seratonin levels causing loss of sleep?

It's a mystery, surrounded by an enigma.........wrapped in a conumdrom!! :)

[dippy1]

HI. I think both are true. I am in no doubt that at the start of my depression my sleep loss was a symptom, the same as my loss of hope, appetite and the will to live. Now I'm in recovery I have to watch my sleep; a few times I've spiralled downwards following several  days with reduced sleep; my consultant feels the same, so much so that he's forbidden any attempt by me to reduce my sleepers til the Spring cos he reckons if my sleep declines I'm at risk of relapse! So you're right with both hypotheses in my oppinion. Of course, we're all different !!

[Sweetvelocity]

I think it can work both ways. If you lack sleep you will have less energy and that can cause depression. If you suffer form insomnia at a very extreme level it can make you have serious depression and you could have a complete mental brake down like I did last summer. I went 3 weeks on about 1 to 2 hours of sleep a night. Got myself put in the hospital. It was very scary. I was so tired that I thought I was seeing things.

But depression alone can cause insomia too. Your up all night thinking about things and you cant get your mind at ease. You worry and your body can hurt. This too can cause your sleep to suffer and the worst part of it is that you are so tired but still can not sleep. It is an evil cycle that if not treated can cause someone to end up just like I did last summer. In a hospital bed crying uncontrollably. A nurse had to sit in my room for two hours because I would not stop crying and I would make myself sick. My body was so tired that I could hardly move. The put me on sleep meds that did not work, they put me on drugs that knocked me out and made me wake up thinking I had an elephant on my head all night.

Now all I want to do is sleep:) I just can't win can I? Honestly I would much rather get to much sleep then not enough any day. Being out in the hospital was very trumatic for me and my family.