What is Clinical Depression?

Clinical depression is a mood disorder that causes you to feel helpless, apathetic to your life and outcomes, hopeless, numb, or sad, among other things. It can make it hard to get out bed in the morning, feel excited about things that are happening in your life, or cause you to distance yourself from friends and loved ones.

While feeling sad is a normal part of being a human, the feelings associated with clinical depression are chronic and intense enough to interfere with relationships, personal habits, personality, jobs, and so on.

What is Sleep Deprivation?

Sleep deprivation is caused by not getting enough sleep which looks different for each person, and our need for sleep changes as we age. Most of us suffer from sleep deprivation because we either have trouble staying asleep, or getting to sleep.

How is your sleep schedule? Are you getting enough sleep? Thirty-three percent of Americans are not; do you fall in that category? (CDC-sleep)

It's important to distinguish between shorter term sleep troubles, such as sleep deprivation caused by anxieties or stress that will soon pass, and long-term sleep deprivation, such as a chronic lack of sleep that may continue for months or years, can be caused by sleep disorders or medical conditions.

How Sleep Deprivation Can Contribute to Depression

Decreased ability to manage stress and anxiety

Getting enough sleep is critical for your ability to have the emotional energy to manage stress and anxiety. Sleep deprivation can hamper your ability to manage stress and anxiety, which in turn can reduce your ability to get rest. 

Chronic stress and anxiety are a frequent associates of depression.

Decreased ability to get enough exercise due to fatigue

Chronic sleep deprivation means chronic fatigue, and usually, much less exercise. It's challenging to prompt yourself to workout when you barely have enough energy to get out of bed. Exercise plays a critical role in maintain physical, mental, and emotional health. Feeling sluggish and not getting exercise can exacerbate depressive symptoms.

Underperform at work, school, etc.

You perform worse in every aspect of your life when you are sleep deprived – at work, in school, and socially. Underperformance can be a significant source of chronic frustration that may lead to feelings of hopelessness, worthlessness, or apathy. 

Chronic irritability that can interfere with relationships

Anyone who has experience with toddlers knows when toddler needs sleep – they start getting "crabby". Adults are no different. When we are tired we have less patience, less self control, and a lower threshold for being “okay with things.” Chronic tiredness usually means chronic irritability, which can make you rather unpleasant to be around, thus interfering with your relationships.

Less engagement in activities

Chronic fatigue from sleep deprivation not only affects your drive to work out, it also affects your energy for engaging in other things that make you feel happy. These are generally hobbies and other non-work, non-school activities, such as any number of creative pursuits.

Feel less like yourself

What many of the above points amount to is that chronic sleep deprivation can make you feel “abnormal,” less like yourself, a “worse” version of your normal self, and so on.

Over time, these feelings and physical symptoms of sleep deprivation can weigh on our emotional and physical vitality. Alone or compounded with other symptoms, this can lead to depression.

Who is at Risk for Sleep Deprivation?

Sleep deprivation can occur to anyone at any age, including:

• Children
• Teenagers
• Adults
• Elderly

Sleep disorders, physical, and hormonal changes do not discriminate. Sleep apnea is more common in men, but insomnia is more common in women. Puberty and menopause are extremely disruptive hormonal changes that affect both sexes at very different ages.

That being said, with age, there are natural changes in the way that people acquire sleep that generally leave people feeling like they are not getting enough sleep.

How Much Sleep Do We Need?

Commonly expected ranges of sleep we need are [National Sleep Foundation]:

• <1 year: 12-17 hours per day (more sleep for newborns than toddlers)
• 1-2 years: 11-14 hours
• 3-5 years: 10-13 hours
• 6-13 hours: 9-11 hours
• 14-17 hours: 8-10 hours
• 18-65: 7-9 hours
• 65+: 7-8 hours

Of course, we are all individuals and your sleep requirements may differ from these. These are simply some guidelines.

What to Do If You Are Chronically Sleep Deprived

The first thing you might consider doing is consulting with your doctor or a sleep specialist, who may be able to help determine if your sleep deprivation is caused by a sleeping disorder or other factors.

If you live in Alaska and suffer from chronic sleep deprivation and depression, please contact us one of our sleep specialists for a consultation by clicking the orange button below to take a free online sleep test.