Does insomnia lead to Depression? - Dr. Sulata Shenoy

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Insomnia refers to insufficient sleep that one gets either in the quantity of sleep that is the number of hours one sleeps or the way one sleeps, the quality of sleep, which is disturbed In most of us these are inadequate, that if one sleeps less number of hours and when on does fall asleep, we are very disturbed and maybe very restless, talking, sometimes shouting, prone to night terrors, nightmares, sleep waking. So all these are seen nowadays leading to poor quality of sleep. So what happens one wakes up is when one wakes up, one is tired , one feels like a hangover and is unable to face the challenges of the new day and this can take a toll on your mental as well as physical healthy. Insomnia can be very transient, that is temporary and brief or it can be acute, where the person is not able to sleep for days on end or it can be chronic that is for years together on has insufficient sleep. So sleep is the first casualty under stress, either physical or mental so people under high stress jobs or who perceives dangers, stress in their day to day life are unable to fall asleep. We also have something called combat fatigue where soldiers are simply unable to drift into sleep when they are supposed to be sleeping, that is they are soon hyper vigilant. Their brain is so overactive, so aware of the dangers around them it does not permit then to drift into the deep state of sleep, that is the restorative state of sleep. Insomnia can be caused by the disturbances in the circadian rhythm, that is the biological clock tells us when we need to wake up and when we need to sleep, this was very simple for our ancestors, However the bon or the bane or artificial light has invaded your homes and offices. Added to that media, technology, social media, internet, all these feel the desire to be connected with people and events throughout the 24 hours as we feel that any time we want to , we can immediately get in touch or stay awake or have your chats or telephonic conversation or other kind of social media and we never know whether it is the time to sleep or the time to be awake , so this is causing a lot of havoc in the systems, not that of the body and the mind. So one needs to be lot of awareness and we see a lot of people in the night time shifts, what is called as the graveyard shifts or pilots or aircrews who are on the eye flights or other people who are constantly working through the night. We have aloof call center employees who are in touch with people across the globe, necessitating them to sit and work throughout the night and work and what happens after a prolonged time is that it plays a detrimental role in our mind and body and certain other people like women, menopausal women, pregnant women, as well as alcoholics, drug abusers, students, all these are people prone to insomnia because of the stress and the strain and the hormonal imbalance, the demands of the current lifestyles that they are going through. So insomnia can lead to primary or secondary depression. Insomnia can mimic depression because the person appears withdrawn, secluded, unable to concentrate, irritable, sad , crying spells which are symptoms of depression or it could also be case of depression having an effect on insomnia. If the person is depressed and one of the first signs of depression is difficulty in biological functioning such as sleeping and eating as well as your biorhythms. whatever the case it needs to get treatment for it which is available nowadays with a good psychologist or a psychiatrist or observe some sleep hygiene and routines. One needs to switch off all the electronic gadgets well before bedtime, not to carry any work whether mentally or physically to bed. Relax, take a relaxing routine before you fall asleep. Relax, meditate and do certain exercises that will make your mind and body calm and soon you will drift into the much desired state of sleep.