Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Can sleep deprivation cure depression?

nytimes.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

111–120 of 223 posts

Re: Can sleep deprivation cure depression?

#111

Post by sandworm101 »

posterboy wrote: post #100
sandworm101 wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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?

Yes. Cougars (mountain lions) are a thing where i live. Also bear, black and brown. It is an extreemly rare event for anyone to be harmed, but i do run into bear regularly in the summer.

Re: Can sleep deprivation cure depression?

#112

Post by kolinko »

tovacinni wrote: post #96
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.

The article's title (not the HN title) says: "the sleep schedule is making you sick".

That is blatantly untrue. For a large part of the population it is not, and even the content of the article acknowledges that.

Re: Can sleep deprivation cure depression?

#113

Post by sandworm101 »

laumars wrote: post #55
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.

> Mood yes. Ask the kids who rave all night. I'm not sure if you're joking or not, but I think it's pretty safe to say there are bigger things contributing to "ravers" euphoria than sleep deprivation. Like the music, alcohol. Or in many popular European clubs, the recreational drugs. That's not to say I'm suggesting people need to on something to be having a good time, but your "raver" example is a pretty poor one if…

Many ravers dont drink or use drugs. They are high on the energy associated with staying ot dancibg all night, exactly like the all-night bike rides in the OP.

Re: Can sleep deprivation cure depression?

#114

Post by petecox »

joecool1029 wrote: post #17
weaksauce wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wish we would all go on DST and be done with it forever. The extra hour of usable daylight after work is a net win for societies mental health. We have farming machines that do the heavy lifting and are mostly automated now anyway. Unlike when it was enacted, there simply are much fewer farmers.

Think of the children!!! EDIT: I should clarify that this is nearly always the argument brought up against year round DST, so that children during winter go to school with sunlight in the morning.

Spain has this issue. It is in the wrong timezone, which the government changed in the 1940s. Consequently it stays light until 6:30pm in winter. In mountainous regions such as Picos de Europa, towns in the valleys do have kids catching schoolbuses in near darkness at 8:30am. As a traveller I found the experience surreal. Although, we put the clocks forward an hour leading up to the 2000 Olympics so construction workers could work longer.

Re: Can sleep deprivation cure depression?

#115

Post by [deleted] »

joecool1029 wrote: post #17
weaksauce wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wish we would all go on DST and be done with it forever. The extra hour of usable daylight after work is a net win for societies mental health. We have farming machines that do the heavy lifting and are mostly automated now anyway. Unlike when it was enacted, there simply are much fewer farmers.

Think of the children!!! EDIT: I should clarify that this is nearly always the argument brought up against year round DST, so that children during winter go to school with sunlight in the morning.

[deleted]

Re: Can sleep deprivation cure depression?

#116

Post by laumars »

sandworm101 wrote: post #113
laumars wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Mood yes. Ask the kids who rave all night. I'm not sure if you're joking or not, but I think it's pretty safe to say there are bigger things contributing to "ravers" euphoria than sleep deprivation. Like the music, alcohol. Or in many popular European clubs, the recreational drugs. That's not to say I'm suggesting people need to on something to be having a good time, but your "raver" example is a pretty poor one if…

Many ravers dont drink or use drugs. They are high on the energy associated with staying ot dancibg all night, exactly like the all-night bike rides in the OP.

Well as I said in my disclaimer, that would be the case for some. But I promise you it was only a minority of those who attended the club's I used to DJ at for the 10 years I was actively involved in the clubbing scene in the UK and mainland Europe.

Most people there weren't sober. But who cares what adults get up to as long as they respect one another. :)

You also cannot understate just how significant the effect music has on one's mood. I'd wager that alone would have a more significant affect than sleep deprivation alone. Plus exercise releases endorphins too

So I really don't think raving is a good example here since there's a multitude of other significant and well studied effects also at play.

Re: Can sleep deprivation cure depression?

#118

Post by vacri »

lukepothier wrote: post #101
pbhjpbhj wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you mind me asking what age you are? >last December I became a morning person using early morning light and exercise // Where do you live that gets light on December mornings?

The entire Southern Hemisphere gets light on December mornings. The summer solstice for the Southern Hemisphere is during December.

Equitorial regions also have light on December mornings, given that their days don't vary much throughout the year.

Re: Can sleep deprivation cure depression?

#119

Post by miketery »

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…

How did you decide which product to purchase for your supplements? Can you recommend any?

Re: Can sleep deprivation cure depression?

#120

Post by fjdlwlv »

jakewins wrote: post #45
valuearb wrote: post #43

I thought this was interesting until I saw the author was a psychiatrist, and psychiatry has zero scientific validity. And his article is just referencing a bunch of tiny sample size studies of dubious merit.

Psychiatrists hold a medical doctorate, so unless you are claiming that medical science has no scientific validity I believe you are thinking of Psychology, which is an entirely different field.

I studied chemistry in college. That doesn't mean computer programming is a chemical discipline.

Psychiatrists go to medical school so they can prescribe medicine without killing a patient, not because medical school has a scientifically rigorous psychiatry curriculum. Remember that homosexuality was a psychiatric disease until recently.

Post reply on HN