WELLNESS-We all experience feeling down from time to time, but that is not the same thing as depression. The National Institute of Mental Health defines depression as someone who experiences symptoms that interfere with their ability to work, sleep, study, eat, and enjoy life. There are other types of depression as well including psychotic, postpartum, and seasonal depression.
10% of Americans will experience full blown depression at some point in their lives, and woman are twice as likely to get depressed.
Scientists have now proven that there is a genetic component for depression, but they are still figuring out which combination of genes leads to depression. What we do know is that people that have depression in the family tree are much more prone to it than families without a history of depression. If someone has a parent or sibling with depression they have a 20 to 30 percent chance of getting depressed as compared to the general population that has a 10% chance.
Many people think that just because a condition is genetic that there is no avoiding it, but this is not always the case. While it’s true that the nature of genetics in regards to disease is very complex, we do know that there are certain behaviors that can help to switch genes on or off. One of those behaviors in regards to depression is sleep. Getting enough sleep is not only important to create energy to get through your day, but it has also been proven that too much or too little sleep contributes to depression.
In a study conducted using twins born of depressive families, one of the twins would get enough sleep and the other twin would either get too much or too little. What they found was that of the twins that got enough sleep about 27% of them experienced depression. As far as the twins that got too little sleep or too much, they experienced depression 53% and 49% of the time respectively.
In this study, they have proven that getting too much or too little sleep contributes to depression. This does not mean that a depressed person got that way simply from not getting enough shut-eye. There are many other things that can trigger depression like trauma or sexual abuse as a child, brain chemistry, hormone imbalances and challenging life events.
Since we know how important sleep is, it is also important to know that not all sleep is created equal. Here are some important tips to getting a good nights sleep.
1. Be sure the room you are sleeping in is kept completely dark. Scientists now know that any amount of light in your room when you are sleeping can lead to depression in just a matter of weeks. That includes light from your clock, or light seeping in around your curtains. Be sure to black out the room you sleep in to avoid the negative effects of light on the brain.
2. Power down at least 60 minutes before bed. This includes computers, phones, and tablets. The light from these machines sends a signal to our brains that it is light outsides and very often will prevent us from being able to fall asleep.
3. Try to be asleep no later than 11pm. 8 hours of sleep from 11 to 7 is much better for your health than 8 hours of sleep from 1am to 9am. Our bodies circadian rhythm knows that it is the middle of the night and within a few hours of sleep we should be going into REM sleep. When we stay up too late, we get less of the deep sleep we need to heal and detox our brain and body.
4. Don’t go to bed feeling hungry or full. Your body knows if you have had too much to eat before bed, and you don’t want to be busy digesting food when you are supposed to be resting and healing your body and brain. If you have not eaten enough during the day and you are going to sleep hungry, you will send a signal to your body that you are not properly nourished which can stimulate the fight or flight response.
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5. Try to avoid caffeine after 12 noon so that by the time you go to bed, your body can wind down quickly.
6. Use the same sleep schedule every day if possible. This will train your brain, and pretty soon you will start to feel sleepy almost automatically at around the same time each night.
7. Get exercise during the day. Working our bodies out is crucial to good health, and study after study proves that people that work out regularly get better sleep than those who don’t. Adding even a small amount of cardiovascular exercise to your daily routine will help you get the rest you need.
8. Meditate or journal before bed to clear your mind of the days’ events or anything else that you may be ruminating over.
(Christian Cristiano is an acupuncturist, TV host of Wellness for Realists and writes on wellness regularly for CityWatch. Christian can be reached at 323.935.3420 -o or 310.909.6956 -m)
-cw
CityWatch
Vol 13 Issue 18
Pub: Mar 3, 2015
