See? Sleep deprivation is not good: look at this picture
Evidence implicating sleep deprivation as one of the central ingredients in bipolar mood problems just keeps racking up. Thanks to Nancy and John for sending me a link with a remarkable picture I hope many readers here will take a moment to view.
Sleep deprivation increases activity in the amygdala, a brain region associated with strong emotions such as fear and agitation. In some ways, this is no surprise: getting more emotional, less able to control one's expressions of anger or sadness, is a familiar consequence of getting too little sleep. But if you want to see a dramatic demonstration of the brain basis of this phenomenon, see a brief explanation of this new research on my webpage about sleep and the biological clock, part of the Biological Basis of Bipolar Disorder series. Or see Dr. Walker's press release.
Dr. Phelpsposted by PsychEducation | This post's link
6 Comments:
Difficulty getting a solid, uninterrupted chunk of sleep has always been a problem for me, off and on, for years.
After some recent difficulty, I tried 3 mg melatonin (sometimes 2 tabs), and noticed a real improvement.
Are the any reasons to be concerned about long term use of melatonin as a sleep aid? Thanks
Not much research on that approach. One of the labs that has studied melatonin uses 0.3 - 0.5 mg at four in the afternoon, primarily to move circadian rhythm, rather than induce sleep.
JP
Hi Dr. Phelps:
I read what anonymous had written about Melatonin, and I am positive (but correct me if I am wrong here), that Melatonin is secreted from the brain, mostly at night, to help induce sleep. Would it be safe to say that Melatonin would be the safer route to go, rather than going on Lunesta, a very addictive and dangerous drug?
I also would like to comment on one of your blogs about medication for certain mental disorders. Why is it that we as a society, are quick to prescribe individuals with chemically induced drugs that are not only potentially harmless to the patient, but also addictive? Why do we not look at the person at an holistic approach and do some research on homeopathic medications , and alternative drugs? I have found that St Jon's Wort is a real good start. Not only does it decrease the instances of depression one feels, but it also cleans out the liver. Although I do not recommend that someone who is on life saving medications take it, but this is a start to help people get different means of medication.
Anyway, Dr. Phelps, that is my own .o2.
Thank you.
I'll bet you are familiar with the phrase "follow the money". Pharmaceutical companies have the money to spend on research, especially the "randomized trials" that we really need to know whether a treatment works better than the 25-30% response rate one can get with a placebo.
So for the "holistic" treatments, or for any medication approach using a pill that has been around for more than 15 years and is thus available as a generic, there is very little funding for good research.
St. John's wort is an exception: there are multiple randomized trials, particularly those from Germany, showing that this works very much like our serotonergic antidepressants.
What we really need is some kind of herbal or natural approach that works really well as a mood stabilizer (St. John's wort can make bipolar disorder worse, like antidepressants do). Oh, wait a minute: lithium? -- comes out of the ground? Thyroid hormone? -- comes out of your neck... maybe we do have some things to complement the options we get from the pharmaceutical companies.
Look for my post coming up soon on high-dose thyroid hormone as a mood stabilizer. Thanks for your comment --
Dr. Phelps
Dr Phelps,
Your information regarding the importance of darkness to sleep is very convincing. Should I be concerned about taking down the "glow in the dark" star decals we have on my son's bedroom ceiling, especially since he sleeps in a loft bed, up close to them?
Interesting question. If they’re huge; if they throw enough light in the dark to actually see you way around up there in the loft, then perhaps. Otherwise I would think that removing them would be an unfortunate consequence of an as yet untested theory!
JP
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