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

One sleepless night can rapidly reverse depression for several days in mice

news.northwestern.edu

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

41–50 of 312 posts

Re: One sleepless night can rapidly reverse depression for several days in mice

#41

Post by pstadler »

leetrout wrote: post #10
shikshake wrote: post #4

This must be why new parents always seem so bubbly and happy! But seriously, that’s very interesting and explains what I’ve experienced. I’ve been in a depression since quitting my phd a couple months ago and not having a direction in life, but whenever I have trouble sleeping I end up feeling better the next day. Maybe I’ll trying utilizing it to get my portfolio looking better.

I noticed something similar (see also: my comment about using magnesium and getting better sleep on the thread about deep sleep yesterday). When I get ~5ish hours of sleep one night a week I am surprisingly more alert the next day but I also crash much harder by night. I cannot sustain multiple days of little sleep but one short night doesn't seem to have such a detrimental effect.

One of my teachers told us to make sure we’re getting a good amount of sleep two nights before an important event (exam, job interview, competition, you name it). One can easily cope with a single sleepless night, but not with two in a row.

Re: One sleepless night can rapidly reverse depression for several days in mice

#42

Post by baxtr »

zdragnar wrote: post #39

Weird, whenever I pull an all nighter my mood is usually noticeably depressed for the following two days. I also used to be a bit of an insomniac, and one sleepless night could easily throw off my circadian rhythm, creating all sorts of extra anxiety, which translates into demand avoidance, stress and furthering depression.

Is your normal state depressed though? I don’t think it works for “normal” people.

Re: One sleepless night can rapidly reverse depression for several days in mice

#43

Post by romwell »

fsloth wrote: post #6
shikshake wrote: post #4

This must be why new parents always seem so bubbly and happy! But seriously, that’s very interesting and explains what I’ve experienced. I’ve been in a depression since quitting my phd a couple months ago and not having a direction in life, but whenever I have trouble sleeping I end up feeling better the next day. Maybe I’ll trying utilizing it to get my portfolio looking better.

I went several years more or less depressed and observed this phenomenon and utilized it. Night of Kerbal Space Program and next day the world is much better. For a while. Also, a lot fuzzier. And I couldn't code very well (just good enough to do my job so everyone was happy but I could feel slipping). Therapy and SSRI:s worked much better in the end. But, for sure in a pinch it does alleviate unbearable darkness. Th…

Seconding everything you wrote.

Emphasizing:

- "The problem is it gives some, and takes a god damn lot"

- "Therapy and SSRI:s worked much better in the end"

Still resort to this sometimes when I'm not on a schedule (i.e. between jobs).

Re: One sleepless night can rapidly reverse depression for several days in mice

#45

Post by Waterluvian »

Hard_Space wrote: post #35

Having suffered from severe depression for over forty years, this reminds me of when I was 17, 18, etc. and suddenly discovered that if I stayed up for two days, the problem went away. So I knew this a very long time ago; but it always seemed to me that, besides smoking, this was just about one of the worst habits you could develop. By my mid-twenties, I had stopped.

My anxiety now is that using THC to sleep will cause issues long term. But without it I literally cannot get to sleep anymore.

Edit: I regret pulling focus off parent comment and OP, but also deeply appreciate everyone’s comments.

Re: One sleepless night can rapidly reverse depression for several days in mice

#46

Post by romwell »

dralley wrote: post #16

It doesn't work for multiple sleepless/almost-sleepless nights in a row, ask me how I know.

>It doesn't work for multiple sleepless/almost-sleepless nights in a row, ask me how I know.

In other news, beneficial effects of a single cup of coffee don't seem to show up after you have a dozen of them.

Re: One sleepless night can rapidly reverse depression for several days in mice

#47

Post by stevenwoo »

jl6 wrote: post #12
smokel wrote: post #5

... in mice.

> In a new study, researchers induced mild, acute sleep deprivation in mice and then examined their behaviors and brain activity. Not only did dopamine release increase during the acute sleep loss period, synaptic plasticity also was enhanced — literally rewiring the brain to maintain the bubbly mood for the next few days. What’s a mouse like when it’s in a bubbly mood?!

Further in the article they discuss monitoring activity of dopamine neurons and modifying individual neurons in the brains of these mice (which has parts analogous to human in many ways including emotion) and describing the behavior of sleep deprived mice which sort of implies what the normal behavior is.

Re: One sleepless night can rapidly reverse depression for several days in mice

#49

Post by fellowniusmonk »

wouldbecouldbe wrote: post #27
shikshake wrote: post #4

This must be why new parents always seem so bubbly and happy! But seriously, that’s very interesting and explains what I’ve experienced. I’ve been in a depression since quitting my phd a couple months ago and not having a direction in life, but whenever I have trouble sleeping I end up feeling better the next day. Maybe I’ll trying utilizing it to get my portfolio looking better.

I don’t know. Seems very correlated with people having a good reason to pull an all nighter. Whether kids or business. Meaning makes us tick

Yeah, meaning is great, or you know, having something exciting or enjoyable to look forward to... but also, I used to heavily experience this type of emotional lift from lack of sleep but when I started taking Beta Blockers a decade ago the benefit stopped overnight never to return.

Adrenaline and the bodies "stress" responses really are a wonder drug, you have to completely reconfigure your life and processes when it goes away.

Re: One sleepless night can rapidly reverse depression for several days in mice

#50

Post by dgb23 »

Obscurity4340 wrote: post #34
danielvaughn wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's something about getting 2-3 hours of sleep that makes me feel like I'm on top of the world throughout the day. I've always assumed it was a kind of wild delirium.

The sleep quality is super lossless and actually gainful when you compress it by allowing a slight sleep debt to accrue

Are you claiming that 2-3h of sleep is enough or healthy?
Post reply on HN