The importance of sleep - food for thought!

[Donk]

Interesting article in the New Scientist
here

It explains a lot about many of the posts found in the witching hours on MN I fear...

Ha!!

I used to have brilliant sleep habits and vast quantities of great quality sleep... before DCs, yawn .

It might well explain a lot of PND!

Interesting.

I think lack of quality sleep can have an extremely detrimental effect on your life.

Everything seems harder to deal with when you aren't properly rested.

One of the reasons we don't go on holiday (apart from finances) is that I struggle to sleep in different places. I think it's a vicious circle if you're stressed you don't sleep well then you can't cope then you end up depresssed - that's a bit simplified but you get the gist.

This makes a lot of sense to me. When I suffered from insomnia my GP quizzed me about depression. Because early waking and not being able to get back to sleep is commonly understood to be a symptom of depression.

I had to convince to her that I really was not depressed. On the occasional days I'd slept well the night before I felt on top of the world. Insomnia was actually causing depressive feelings in me, it was definitely not a symptom.

I had dreadful insomnia when I suffered from PND. It's a hideous illness (insomia..although both are come to think of it!) and I wouldn't wish either on anyone.

Lack of sleep can cause you to hallucinate and all sorts. It's awful.

Really interesting article.

Agree with Donk - I have often wondered whether in some cases PND is actually caused by poor sleep. I know that in my case I seriously felt like I was cracking up after 4 or 5 bad nights but was back on top form after a good night's sleep.

This is so interesting. Since dd2 was born, both dh and I have ended up on anti depressants. Dd2, for the record, is now 3 and still not sleeping through the night. She has woken up every single night since she was born, with a couple of very notable exceptions.

We have both had episodes of more severe anxiety or depression, alongside a general feeling of despair. I think I am worse affected, and this may be because I snore as well.

I am going to forward the article to him.

What is the answer though? Firstly, for us, have no more children. Secondly, prioritise sleep. We have been much better since we catch up on sleep at weekends.

Could this be a reason why Western societies suffer more depression/mental health problems than other cultures?

I know that I was sobbing my eyes out this morning after getting no sleep from 2.30 am onwards thanks to a combination of my non-sleeping nearly 3 year old DS (huge sympathy, Cloudspotter) and some savage BH contractions at 37+ weeks pg.

I have been clinically depressed in the past, and actually found I was incredibly sleepy, so for me sleeplesness = misery, depression = lethargy.

totally agree. I found myself going down last week - a combination of stress and some bad news, and as it had it I was not sleeping well at all. I was starting to think about whether I was tumbling into depression again....

Move forward to sat morning and I got a lie in (ds with my mum), and I went to bed early last night, and HOW much better do I feel now? not 100%, as there is still a lot of stress and worry in my life, but definitely not about to reach for the prozac again..