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Can sleep deprivation cure depression?

nytimes.com

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Re: Can sleep deprivation cure depression?

#91

Post by posterboy »

ThrustVectoring wrote: post #69
Houshalter wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I noticed that stupid jokes and stuff seem much funnier to me when I am sleep deprived. One time I pulled an all nighter and then looked at some meme subreddits. I was laughing incredibly hard to stuff I wouldn't even normally find amusing. This seems to be a well known phenomenon. There's a whole subreddit called 3am jokes ( https://www.reddit.com/r/3amjokes/ ) for this.

I'm much better at making puns while sleep deprived.

I do take that as argument against sleep deprivation.

Re: Can sleep deprivation cure depression?

#92

Post by hannele »

Houshalter wrote: post #60
update wrote: post #12

> Tübingen who was hospitalized for depression and claimed that she normally kept her symptoms in check by taking all-night bike rides. He subsequently demonstrated in a group of depressed patients that a night of complete sleep deprivation produced an immediate, significant improvement in mood in about 60 percent of the group. I thought this bit was neat. I'd heard that sleep deprivation can bring on a feeling of eu…

I noticed that stupid jokes and stuff seem much funnier to me when I am sleep deprived. One time I pulled an all nighter and then looked at some meme subreddits. I was laughing incredibly hard to stuff I wouldn't even normally find amusing. This seems to be a well known phenomenon. There's a whole subreddit called 3am jokes ( https://www.reddit.com/r/3amjokes/ ) for this.

I've been there. I was missing the "I" tiles for a scrabble game and it was the funniest thing ever.

Re: Can sleep deprivation cure depression?

#93

Post by amelius »

Kluny wrote: post #77
stretchwithme wrote: post #37

I don't know about sleep and depression. My Mom was bipolar and the topic never came up, other than her being up to all hours when she was manic. But I recently read an interesting article about vitamin D and that lead me to supplement magnesium and vitamins D, A and K. I only do it once every three days to be conservative. http://www.precisionnutrition.com/stop-vitamin-d And I've found I'm much more decisive and lik…

I also did some reading about vitamins last year and ended up taking vitamin d for a while, then magnesium for a while. My method wasn't any more scientific than that, but the vitamin D had no noticeable effect, while the effect of magnesium was dramatic. I was suffering from mood swings, poor concentration and low energy serious enough that I was considering seeing a psychologist about depression. Magnesium seems to…

If you have a disease such as depression, make a list of conditions that can cause it. For depression, vitamin deficiencies would be on the list (but also things like hormone imbalances, and many other conditions). Bring this list to your doc and let them add probabilities to each condition. Now work your way down the list, and get the blood work done.

In any case, make sure your doc presents upfront an analytical approach to curing your illness. Don't let them just do what they think is right because you're likely to end up in a maze.

Re: Can sleep deprivation cure depression?

#94

Post by aethos »

zippergz wrote: post #52
palavsen wrote: post #34

My experience is sleep deprivation increases depression

For me as well. Sometimes I go through periods where I stay up too late, and I almost always end up feeling depressed after a few days of it.

I think it's a matter of degree.

If you usually sleep 7 hours a night, and you're only getting 4, then you will feel tired grumpy and sad. But if you stay up all night, you may start to feel euphoric and energetic. Of course, you'll need a good long sleep the next day or so.

Re: Can sleep deprivation cure depression?

#95

Post by quinnkcq »

Kluny wrote: post #77
stretchwithme wrote: post #37

I don't know about sleep and depression. My Mom was bipolar and the topic never came up, other than her being up to all hours when she was manic. But I recently read an interesting article about vitamin D and that lead me to supplement magnesium and vitamins D, A and K. I only do it once every three days to be conservative. http://www.precisionnutrition.com/stop-vitamin-d And I've found I'm much more decisive and lik…

I also did some reading about vitamins last year and ended up taking vitamin d for a while, then magnesium for a while. My method wasn't any more scientific than that, but the vitamin D had no noticeable effect, while the effect of magnesium was dramatic. I was suffering from mood swings, poor concentration and low energy serious enough that I was considering seeing a psychologist about depression. Magnesium seems to…

I've never heard that about magnesium, thanks for the heads up. It's worth a shot a suppose. Cheers

Re: Can sleep deprivation cure depression?

#96

Post by tovacinni »

anigbrowl wrote: post #72

I'm sure it works great for some people and very poorly for others. I am disappointed by this headline though. While the story is interesting, 'can X CURE depression?!'is basically clickbaity bullshit, and if the NYT is serious about the value of journalism it should abandon clickbaiting as a strategy, for two reasons. One, it's because of shullshit headlines like this that people in general distrust the media in gen…

I don't know why this makes you so mad, but the title definitely helped me be interested in the article and I ended up learning a few things about myself through the article.

Re: Can sleep deprivation cure depression?

#97

Post by make3 »

Thinking of the recent reproducibility crisis in psychology, I'm wondering how you can prove this without the placebo effect. How does someone try not sleeping without knowing if they are not sleeping? Or do you compare with people doing something else that is known to be useless? like a sugar pill. Thinking about how different colors of placebo in antidepressants have more or less intense effects, I wonder if the fact that using a placebo so different from the actual thing makes it pointless.

Re: Can sleep deprivation cure depression?

#98

Post by Thrillington »

busyant wrote: post #6
roywiggins wrote: post #5

I wonder what damage our twice yearly clock changes do. An hour doesn't seem like much but, giving an entire population a little bit of jet lag simultaneously has to be bad for us, right?

I've tested myself for the past 10 years and it seems as though I get sick (cold/flu-like) more frequently when we lose an hour. It's anecdata and small sample size and other possible confounding variables, but I think there is a kernel of truth in there.

I know you acknowledged that's anactodal, but we lose an hour at the end of flu season. You're more likely to be sick during this time of the year. The clock change has nothing to do with it.

Re: Can sleep deprivation cure depression?

#99

Post by posterboy »

Ambroos wrote: post #47
sandworm101 wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Mood yes. Ask the kids who rave all night. But cognition? Im not convinced. I find my memory and problem solving abilities really drop after 30+ hours without sleep. Maybe it is a good tool for the depressed, but i would not suggest it to those looking to boost otherwise healthy/normal minds.

I sometimes go a whole night without sleep when I'm nervous about something important. I function much better on no sleep than on less than 5 hours of sleep (for one night only that is). What I've noticed is that without sleep, some of my abilities are stronger, but everything memory-related is much weaker. I notice everything extremely fast, think quickly and react much faster than normally. My focus is pretty crazy…

Maybe after too little sleep at least you notice you feel bad, whereas without any sleep you don't even notice anymore. If your memory doesn't function right it's no surprise that your temporal perception inherently relying on memory would be impeded. Since the hormonal system is rather complex, enthusiasm can be a byproduct of trying to stay awake. Likewise, the sport mentioned in the OP is at least as likely to cause happiness, not to say that I doubt the headline altogether.

Re: Can sleep deprivation cure depression?

#100

Post by posterboy »

sandworm101 wrote: post #53
Ambroos wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I sometimes go a whole night without sleep when I'm nervous about something important. I function much better on no sleep than on less than 5 hours of sleep (for one night only that is). What I've noticed is that without sleep, some of my abilities are stronger, but everything memory-related is much weaker. I notice everything extremely fast, think quickly and react much faster than normally. My focus is pretty crazy…

Sounds like a stressed prey animal dropping higher brain functions (memory, long-term planning) in favor of the more reactive minute-to-minute instincts needed to avoid being spotted and eaten by lions. I mean lions literally because four-legged things with the big teeth were a driving force of our evolution for millions of years. Those instincts/traits are very much with us today.

Literally? Where do you live that lions would be a problem?! I'm joking, and sure there might be a trade off between higher and more basic brain functions, but I suppose those only really work for a short while, after which either will be impeded by exhaustion.

Edit: what's the word for that state of mind, maybe frenzy?

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