Sleeping disorders and depression

Sleeping disorders are known to be one of the common symptoms of depression. However, the relationship between insomnia and depression is more complicated where one effects another and vise versa.

The key factor is Melatonin - "the hormone of darkness".

"What is Melatonin

Melatonin is a naturally occurring hormone secreted by the pineal gland, a pea-size structure at the center of the brain. As our eyes register the fall of darkness and the onset of night melatonin is produced. It signals to our body to prepare for sleep, our blood pressure dips, there is a decrease in body temperature and we start to feel sleepy

Melatonin & Depression

Melatonin is an important nighttime hormone associated with sleep and regeneration. However, excessive levels or daytime melatonin can cause depressive disorders. Medical research confirms the relationship between melatonin and mood disorders. The following paragraphs explain how melatonin works and why it causes depression.

Darkness & Melatonin

Melatonin is normally released by the pineal gland in the evening as sunlight is diminishing. Melatonin causes us to feel tired and withdraw. This helps us to sleep, but if we have to be awake when melatonin is in our system, we become lethargic, disoriented, irritable and moody. This explains why shift work and jet lag can be so debilitating, and why depression rates are highest in darker climates. Almost everyone with a mood disorder suffers worse in the winter because of excess melatonin in his or her system."

Source

Thus you are right to make a conclusion that sunlight is one of the tips on how to cure depression. It may sound simple yet be difficult to follow. When depressed we tend to seek for dark colors. Even subconsciously you will wear dark-colored clothes, sit at home with drawn curtains, place dark-colored furniture in your room and think that you feel comfortable, while your melatonin levels grow higher and worsen your state little by little. All you need to stop it is to go for a walk. Shopping can be a nice idea if you decide to buy some bright-colored clothes. Especially it will be useful to take some friends with you which is both fun and can help to improve your mood.

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Symptoms of depression

In the first post I quoted the article which explains the built-up of depression. Now let us look closely on its symptoms so that we know every bit about the sickness we face. Here I’m posting the list of the most common symptoms of depression with my comments.
Feedback is much appreciated.

1. Depressed mood most of the day, nearly every day, as indicated by either subjective report (e.g., feeling sad or empty) or observation made by others (e.g., appears tearful). (In children and adolescents, this may be characterized as an irritable mood.)

This one is the most common symptom associated with depression and it is quite different from ‘feeling blues’. The main difference is that the feeling of sadness \ emptiness during depression is nearly constant. Moreover you keep thinking about it and pity yourself which makes it worse.

2. Markedly diminished interest or pleasure in all, or almost all, activities most of the day, nearly every day

No matter If you have to participate in some job-related or fun activities - you wake up in the morning tired and go on through the day feeling sad and unwilling to do anything but sit and think about how bad you feel today. Everything else seems worthless if not annoying.

3. Significant weight loss when not dieting or weight gain (e.g., a change of more than 5% of body weight in a month), or decrease or increase in appetite nearly every day.

e.g. you are sure that you are not physically hungry. However, you keep eating more and more. Be it intentional search for some food in your kitchen or unwitting constant picking of some snacks while reading or sitting at the computer.

4. Insomnia or hypersomnia nearly every day

Troubles with getting to sleep and waking up in the morning, sleepy feeling during the day, multiple awakenings during the night, a desire to sleep long hours – sleeping disorders and depression are tied closely and can influence each other in different ways.

5. Psychomotor agitation or retardation nearly every day

Swinging emotions as well as sudden changes from tiredness and lack of movement to agitation and rush.

6. Fatigue or loss of energy nearly every day

This one is close to the second point: every action either physical or cognitive causes energy loss, annoyance and tiredness.

7. Feelings of worthlessness or excessive or inappropriate guilt nearly every day

Consequences from unwillingness to do anything lead to the thoughts like “I don’t want and can’t do anything, I do everything wrong, I am a burden to everyone” etc. These thoughts bore sense of guilt for everybody and lack of confidence which make original depressive feelings worse.

8. Diminished ability to think or concentrate, or indecisiveness, nearly every day

Inability to concentrate or attempts to concentrate on too many things, being at the same time unable to finish all of them properly. Attempts to complete many tasks at the same time.

9. Recurrent thoughts of death (not just fear of dying), recurrent suicidal ideation without a specific plan, or a suicide attempt or a specific plan for committing suicide

It can be not even a real suicide planning, but playing and experiencing a ‘movie’ in the mind of how will it be to commit suicide. However planning, attempting and committing suicide is a way for patients to free themselves from suffering on critical stage of depression.

The list is taken from here.

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Principles of depression

Low mood, Anxiety, Delusions, Memory and concentration problems, Loss of interest in things you used to enjoy - one may think these are no big deal but just a normal reaction to stress at work, overdue bills, taxes, family quarrels or whatever.

However, when these symptoms are followed by sleep problems (either insomnia or oversleeping), eating disorders (increase or decrease in appetite), constipation, period irregularities, decreased libido, constant feeling of tiredness - one of the most possible diagnosis’ is depression.

It is obvious that to get over negative symptoms of a sickness one should understand it's origin. In this post I would like to quote one of the clearest yet simple explanations on how depression occurs I've ever read:

"The stress system relies on two key hormones: adrenaline and cortisol. In short, adrenaline works in the short term, while cortisol has large momentum and works in the long term.

It is important to realize that the stress system can also be activated if your brain perceives danger or any kind of threat. In the first stage, this triggers the release of adrenaline into the bloodstream to prepare the body for action. As a result, your heart beats faster, you begin to sweat, your breath becomes shallower, and your senses become more acute. This is the so-called fight or flight response to the stressor event, and was quite adequate during most of our evolution, when these events were quite specific and usually short-term. Problems with chronic stress arise because in a modern society we cannot escape easily from the stressor, be it an overbearing boss, crowded cities, or traffic jams.

The effect of the stress hormones on the brain is curious and not what you might expect. The initial surge of adrenaline will make you feel good, though not quite in the same way as with serotonin. The difference is that adrenaline will make you feel euphoric and accelerated, whereas serotonin produces a state which could be described as that of quiet bliss. However, as far as the communication between neurons is concerned, adrenaline can compensate for low levels of serotonin. There is, alas, a serious drawback of adrenaline: together with it comes cortisol, the yang of the stress hormones.

Just as your levels of adrenaline start coming down, so rises the amount of cortisol flowing through your veins. Moreover, cortisol has a much larger momentum than adrenaline, which means that even though it builds up slowly, it also takes a long time to go back to normal. And should you constantly be engaging in activities which require adrenaline, so will your levels of cortisol slowly increase. Together with the rise of cortisol and the decrease of adrenaline, come the nasty side-effects of the stress hormones. It is at this moment that you feel bad, anxious, and having lots of negative thoughts.

To complete the picture of how chronic stress causes depression, there remains one critical factor to be explained: high-levels of stress hormones will over time diminish your brain's ability to produce serotonin. The exact mechanism by which this happens is still subject to discussion, but the general consensus is that sleep is the key. The reason is that higher levels of stress hormones mean less sleep, which is fundamental for the brain to restore its ability to produce serotonin".

from: Demystifying Depression by Name of Feather

If you came this far, I hope you have understood the basics of how the depression build-up works: More stress hormones mean less happiness hormones which means depression. Now as we know the roots of evil we may proceed to cure methods.

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I am back

Well it has been a while since I wrote anything on any of my blogs. Two reasons for that, one I was having major computer problems and also writers block but the main reason is that I had to get a new computer. Now I am finally back and hope to have all of my blogs updated soon. It took me a while to log into my blog account and that is another reason I haven't been able to write anything.

Depression wise, things are good. I'm taking my pills like I'm supposed to and am planning on going back to school soon. My hubby got out of jail and is doing good. So not really much to talk about on this blog but I will be updating my other blogs with a few things.

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How was everyone's Christmas?

To tell you the truth mine was bad. I have been pretending that I was happy for all of my online friends but the truth is I didn't have a Christmas. My husband never did get out of jail like we were hoping and now he won't be out until January 17th so I didn't get my one and only Christmas wish. I hope everyone else had a good Christmas though. Since my hubby has been in jail I was put on Clonopin for my nerves. This is because of how depressed I have been from missing him so much. They help but I still miss him a lot and can't wait until he comes home. I am planning a big dinner and I am actually trying to make enough money online to be able to buy him a nice Christmas present for his homecoming.

I didn't want anyone to buy me anything but of course my mom bought me a nice warm robe and my aunt bought me a new hat and scarf. It was nice of them to think of me but I truly didn't want them to buy me anything because I couldn't afford to buy anyone anything because of the debt I am in. I only wanted one thing and that was for my husband to come home. Anyway I really didn't want to talk about this but I needed to get it off of my chest and what better way than to write it in my depression blog since I am depressed. Anyway, here's hoping that the New year brings all of us better things and here's to hoping that next Christmas will be better. I hope I didn't bring anyone down for writing this but I had to write it down to see if I could feel a little better. It really didn't work though. Thanks for reading my depressing ramblings.

My main blog

My Yuwie blog

My AC articles

My Squidoo lens

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Do you ask yourself "Why does God allow suffering?"

I will tell you from first hand experience that I have been through hell and back in my days. I am still young but I sure have been through a lot as, I'm sure, everyone has. We all have our bad days and our good days but what happens when we go through a really awful time and it seems like there is no hope of ever getting back to the good times? I can tell you the things I have been through have been hard and sometimes it seems like once something bad happens everything falls down on me after. Sometimes it's like a domino effect; one bad thing follows another and another and another until it seems like we just can't take it anymore and feel all hope is lost. But have you ever really sat down and thought about why these bad things happen? I have and to tell you the truth I have learned a lot of things while having a streak of bad luck. The terrible ordeals I have been through have only made me stronger and made me decide to reach out to God more.

In my last post I told you about how my husband went to jail for driving without his license and even though it is a bad thing because I miss him terribly I have realized that that was God's way of telling us "Hey you can't be driving." You know why he shouldn't be driving? Because he has a seizure disorder and the last time he was behind the wheel he had a seizure while driving and almost died. About a short month after he went to court, and this was his second offense, and the judge sentenced him to 90 days in jail. Sure we were upset, mad, even angry with God. We wondered why God could let this happen. I think there are a couple of other reasons this happened to us. One reason could be because I depended on my husband too much and I think I needed to learn how to live on my own and take care of myself and do things that I never had to do before because my husband was always here to do them. I never, ever imagined that I would be without him one day but you know what? This is not the only time I will be without him and this is only temporary because he will hopefully be home within the next week or so. I have realized that one day, if his time comes before mine, he will be gone and I won't get to be with him again until I get to heaven. So maybe this was God's way of telling me I had to live on my own and do things for myself. For example, one of my cats died a couple of weeks ago, she was only about a month old, and I found her dead and cried my eyes out of course but my husband wasn't here to bury her like he has done for all of our other animals we have lost over the years. So I buried her and I have never buried an animal before in my entire life. But I did it and it wasn't hard to do, except it was hard on my heart, but it wasn't physically hard.

Another thing I have learned, and my husband has too since being in jail and away from me, is that we have such a deep and strong love for each other we can get through anything life throws at us. It seems our love has grown even stronger since we have been apart and we miss each other so much it hurts but we know it won't be too much longer before he gets home. This is just another example of God trying to tell us something.

Anyway I found a wonderful website that talks about reasons why God allows suffering. There is so much evil in this world and a lot of suffering. A lot of people are suffering much more than I am and I have also learned that. Some people think their life is so bad that no one can possibly have it worse but a lot of people are so much worse off than you and I. What about the homeless? What about people in different countries who are starving or freezing to death? What about the many innocent people who die in terrorists attacks every day in certain countries? What about children who are abused either sexually, mentally, or physically? Think about what they might be going through and then ask yourself if your life is really that bad.

I know people who complain about everything and I do mean everything. They complain about the house they live in or the car they drive or the job they have. They complain about the food they eat and the clothes they wear. Ok to those people I say, at least you have a house to live in and a car to drive. At least you have a job and even if it doesn't pay that much at least it pays the bills. At least you have clothes to wear and food to eat. A lot of people don't have homes, food, cars, jobs, money or anything. So be thankful for what you do have and Thank God for what you do have. I know I am thankful every day for the roof over my head and food in my fridge. I might not have money for Christmas presents this year but the best Christmas present I could have is my husband home and food on our table. That is all I want. Of course I want things to get better for everyone but I am not worried about going out and spending money on presents that I don't have because all I need is my family and a nice dinner to sit down to with them.

Sorry for the long article but this website really made me think about life and why people suffer. The reason I have come up with is because God wants us to learn from the bad things that happen. I can't really say why God allows so many people to suffer such as the homeless, or abused children but I can say that the bad things I have gone through have made me the strong person I am today and has made me really reach out to God and to be thankful for the things I do have instead of complaining about the things I don't have. Why worry about material possessions in this world when we won't be taking them with us to the next world?

Anyway if you do have that question burning in your mind and heart, "Why does God allow suffering?" then please click on the link and check out this wonderful website. There is a course you can take to help you understand more about why there is so much suffering in the world today and maybe even open you up to new ideas and new insights about God and how much He does love all of us and is there for all of us. Maybe this course will help you to understand more about God's will and what he wants you to do with your life. We all have a purpose in life and maybe this will help you find yours. Anyway God bless and Merry Christmas!

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Sorry it has been a while

It has been a long time since I last posted and for that I am sorry. I have been busy and have had a lot of stuff going on in my life. Too much for me to handle but I have finally accepted it.

My husband is in jail right now for driving without his license. I know he shouldn't have done it but we had no other way to get around considering I do not have my license yet. The reason I don't have mine is because with this social phobia I also now have a driving phobia. I can drive and I am trying to get over it but I get scared when there is a lot of traffic and I also get scared at night. I am not afraid of the dark I am just afraid to drive in the dark. But I have to get over it so I got my permit again and now I need to practice my parking because that is the main thing I am afraid I will fail because I cannot park in between 2 cars.

So anyway in order for my husband to get to work he had to drive himself and the reason he doesn't have his license is because he had too many DUI's from the past and they took them. So in order for him to get them back he has to pay a $675 re-instatement fee. So we got pulled over and got a speeding ticket and he had to go to court and then he was in a bad car wreck because he had a seizure at the wheel and had to go in front of the same judge so he got 90 days in jail. At least he is alive because he almost died in that wreck. I miss him terribly though. We talk on the phone every once in a while and I can see him every Thursday. We also write to each other but it is not the same. I want him home with me where he belongs.

So since he is in jail I had to have my Serouquel reduced back down to 200 mgs. instead of 400 because 400 knocks me out so bad that I can't wake up for anything. With him being gone I need to be alert in case a fire happens or anything else. So she reduced that and increased my Zoloft to 100 mgs. It seems to be working out ok but she also had to put me on Klonopin to help calm my nerves. I was crying myself to sleep every night for the first 2 weeks. I am ok now and have accepted it and I know he will be home soon. I look forward to his phone calls and his letters and to be able to see him once a week. I miss him so much though. He is my best friend, my husband, my partner for life.

Anyway I will write again soon. :)

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