Learn why depression and insomnia go hand in hand.

Depression is one of the major psychological disorders that cause insomnia.  People who suffer from major depression or overwhelming sadness that lasts for four weeks and still counting often find themselves staring at nothing while lying flatly on their bed in the middle of the night. Although scientists are still not fully certain on what really causes depression, insomnia on the other hand is a confirmed side-effect of depression.

Anyone can be depressed from time to time but to experience depression and insomnia, sudden loss of interest in social activities, drastic change in appetite, fatigue, and lack in energy, restlessness, difficulty in thinking, and worst suicidal attempt are major telling signs that a person is officially clinically depressed. But in this article what will be tackled is the already well-established connection between depression and insomnia.

Most of the clinically depressed individuals exhibits struggle with staying asleep and motivating themselves to fall asleep. The physiological explanation related to it is the flattened body temperature of a depressed person. Humans have this body temperature rhythm called circadian rhythm. It is one of the determinants of what kind of sleep clock a person would have. In non -depressed individuals and rather have normal body temperature they experienced periodic rise and fall in body temperatures. A clear picture of this is for not depressed individuals their brain waves are generally active early in the morning, drops slightly at mid-afternoon, soared high again early in the evening and falls at lowest point during nigh time until 4 am where we are normally sleeping.

Contrary to depressed individuals their body rhythms rarely rise and fall. In most instances theirs are completely flat, like they are not experiencing feeling at all. Because of this their body clock becomes no longer normal. All day long they feel down, thus the brain wave that triggers people to act with energy is at its lazy mode. And when it’s time to sleep the body temperature of depressed people can be at its highest peak preventing them to rest and fall asleep.

Another physiological fact that significantly connects depression and insomnia is the amount of sunlight the body is exposed to particularly the eye during daylight. The body is composed of hormone called melatonin which is responsible for pulling down the body rhythm when every time it is exposed to darkness and consequently put us to sleep. Since depressed individuals lurk in the dark because as much as possible they abhor exposure to any form of light, natural or not. Hence, their body temperature rhythm quickly point downward sucking them off with energy and would pressure them to sleep early. Therefore, the tendency to fall asleep at night would be minimal making them distressed and unable of quality sleep.

Depressed minds fed their minds with negative thoughts, and it is these thoughts that make their action drifted away from what is normal. But the mentioned above provides specific explanations on how depression and insomnia have established a connection with each other.