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Mental Health

The Link Between Sleep and Depression

Summary & Participants

We all know that when we're low or anxious it's hard to sleep. But did you know that sleep problems may also induce depression? Listen to experts talk about the link between sleep and depression and what you can do about it.

Medically Reviewed On: July 10, 2008

Webcast Transcript

JAMES O'BRIEN, MD: Antidepressants can come in a variety of forms. You have sedating antidepressants and more stimulating types of antidepressants. And clearly a stimulating antidepressant can have an effect in one's ability to initiate sleep and maintain sleep.

ANNOUNCER: For people with depression who need treatment for insomnia, experts suggest a variety of tactics. The first thing is to look at bed time behaviors.

ARTHUR SPIELMAN, PhD: One of the methods is to not stay in bed awake thrashing around, writhing around agitated and feeling hopeless that you'll ever get to sleep. That builds an association between that experience and that turmoil, and being in bed trying to sleep.

You don't want to associate the bed and your sleep environment and the time for going to sleep with activity. So if you're in bed, on the phone or, you know, doing your checkbook or playing card games, you are associating that bed experience with activation. And if you have a sleep problem, you want to avoid that.

ANNOUNCER: For some people with depression, helping them sleep may require the use of a sleep aid.

JAMES O'BRIEN, MD: Sleep is essential for their emotional and mental well-being and that may require the use of some short-term use of a hypnotic medication in order to facilitate their control and expectation that that they can achieve good, sound sleep.

ANNOUNCER: Today sleeping medications may fall into several categories. One is benzodiazepines.

ARTHUR SPIELMAN, PhD: They're very effective. They don't lose their effectiveness over time; they're a very good class of drugs.

The side effects for benzodiazepines are grogginess in the morning, memory problems. ANNOUNCER: Another solution is non-benzodiazepines.

ARTHUR SPIELMAN, PhD: Some are very short-acting, and so you can wake up in the morning not feel that hangover. But then again, some patients feel that they don't get enough sleep on them because they're not long enough-acting. If you take enough of these non-benzodiazepines, it'll affect memory.

And then the antidepressants. There are some sedating antidepressant drugs that are useful for sleep and are used commonly.

ANNOUNCER: But even when the depression starts lifting, the insomnia may remain.

ARTHUR SPIELMAN, PhD: Insomnia can take on a life of its own once it's started. So you may have to address insomnia independently, even after you're not depressed.

ANNOUNCER: So while depression is serious, experts suggest that solving sleep problems is also important. Good sleep can contribute not only to a restful night, but also to a much better day.

JAMES O'BRIEN, MD: It's extremely important for patients who have depression to handle and address any underlying sleep problem that may be occurring.

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