This Article in Scientific American, in Nov of 2012 is essentially about treating people with depression and various other psychiatric symptoms with a healthy sleep schedule. They also touch on a growing concern in our nation sleep apnea. This can be said to be a side effect of our ever growing nation, not in numbers but in pounds. They present that getting a healthy dose of uninterrupted sleep will promote a natural balance in the brain there by easing symptoms of depression. There is also a good amount of research on sleep apnea stating that when you stop breathing so often through the night your brain isn’t getting the REM sleep it needs for the next day causing that dragging feeling that can only make symptoms of depression worse. I chose this article because I suffer from clinical depression and general anxiety and PTSD so it hits close to home. My younger sister was murdered almost a year ago and this was the stem of my previous symptoms becoming worse ten-fold. I was suffering from nightmares and my sleep was (naturally from the shock and grief) interrupted. After a few talks with my psychiatrist he suggested a sleep aid that inhibits nightmares and told me he thought if I could just get a good night’s sleep uninterrupted that my symptoms would start to get better.
He even took me off my antidepressants because he said they were making me too tired during the day which was also prohibiting my sleep at night. So that night after I took my medicine I slept like a log and woke up feeling better than I had in many months. I also had gained about 20 lbs and this could also be causing the apnea mentioned in the article. I was hesitant at first but this really works. My brain was running on fumes and all it needed was rest. I haven’t been back on the anti depressants and though I am still grieving and get sad I am not sad all day and night and my brain is