Interestingly, scientists have yet to find any association between circadian clock genes and major depression. However, several lines of evidence implicate a sleep stage known as REM sleep.

After you fall asleep, your brain enters three progressively deeper stages of non-REM sleep, which is mostly dreamless. After about 90 minutes, it enters REM sleep, which is when most dreaming occurs. However, people with major depression tend to enter their first REM sleep stage more quickly than usual after falling asleep, and it lasts longer.

Els van der Helm and Matthew Walker, sleep scientists at the University of California, Berkeley, have speculated that the normal pattern of emotional processing that occurs during REM sleep breaks down in people with depression.

So rather than helping them unlearn negative associations, these memories somehow become consolidated during their REM sleep. Over time, this contributes to an increasingly bleak mindset.

In support of their hypothesis, the researchers note that many antidepressants suppress REM sleep, which may steadily improve mood by preventing this consolidation of negative emotional memories from happening. Interestingly, in some people, total sleep deprivation can rapidly lift depression, though only temporarily.

Van der Helm and Walker believe that this may work in much the same way as the antidepressants — by depriving the brain of this dysfunctional type of REM sleep. In the recurrent nightmares that people with PTSD typically experience, it is as though the brain is repeatedly trying and failing to remove the emotional label associated with the memory of a traumatic event.

A review of research suggests that the drug prazosin, which doctors usually prescribe for high blood pressure, can relieve the nightmares of military combat veterans with PTSD.

The drug seems to do this by lowering levels of noradrenaline, which is one of several brain hormones that determine our progression through the different stages of sleep as their levels change.

Noradrenaline suppresses REM sleep. This year, psychiatrists in the Netherlands have launched a major investigation of sleep problems in people with newly diagnosed mental health conditions, including bipolar disorder, depression, anxiety, PTSD, and schizophrenia.

As well as assessing the incidence and nature of sleep difficulties in people with these conditions, the researchers will randomly assign participants with sleep problems to receive either their usual care or treatment at a sleep clinic.

Describing their forthcoming study in the journal BMC Psychiatry , the psychiatrists write:. Sleep disorders are frequently diagnosed years after onset; years in which poor sleep already exerted detrimental effects on physical and mental health, daytime functioning, and quality of life.

If successful, their clinical trial will provide hope that there is a way to slow down or even prevent the vicious cycle of poor sleep quality and worsening mental health. In this article, learn about the causes and symptoms of several sleep disorders, including sleep apnea, insomnia, and parasomnias.

In this Special Feature, we investigate five myths associated with sleep. Among other questions, we ask whether sleep deprivation truly can be fatal. In this Special Feature, we question some common misconceptions about sleep, including the role of alcohol, remembering dreams, and late-night cheese.

In this Special Feature, we use the latest evidence to examine the neuroscientific underpinnings of sleep and its role in learning and memory…. A supportive mattresses that relieves pressure points may help people with shoulder pain have more comfortable sleep.

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Medical News Today. Health Conditions Health Products Discover Tools Connect. The close relationship between sleep and mental health. By James Kingsland on August 4, — Fact checked by Hannah Flynn. Share on Pinterest A lack of good quality sleep can negatively affect mental health.

Two-way link to mental health. How does CBT for insomnia work? A trio of biological causes. Faulty clocks. Emotional memories. Recurrent nightmares. Breaking out of the cycle. Share this article. Latest news Ovarian tissue freezing may help delay, and even prevent menopause. RSV vaccine errors in babies, pregnant people: Should you be worried?

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Poor sleep over a sustained period leads to a number of problems which are immediately recognisable, including fatigue, sleepiness, poor concentration, lapses in memory, and irritability. Up to one third of the population may suffer from insomnia lack of sleep or poor quality sleep.

This can affect mood, energy and concentration levels, our relationships, and our ability to stay awake and function during the day. Sleep and health are strongly related, poor sleep can increase the risk of having poor health, and poor health can make it harder to sleep.

Common mental health problems like anxiety and depression can often underpin sleep problems. Where this is the case, a combination approach to treating the mental health problem and sleep problem in tandem is often the most effective.

It is essential for us to better understand the sleep process in order to ensure that we get a regular amount of good quality sleep.

Sleepio, co-founded by Professor Colin Espie, Director of the University of Glasgow Sleep Centre, is a new organisation that is dedicated to raising awareness of the importance of sleep. Sleepio collected data from a large-scale, national survey on sleep habits; some of these revealing new data appear throughout this report.

We can all benefit from improving the quality of our sleep. For many of us, it may simply be a case of making small lifestyle or attitude adjustments in order to help us sleep better. For those with insomnia it is usually necessary to seek more specialist treatment. Sleep medication is commonly used, but may have negative side effects and is not recommended in the long-term.

Psychological approaches are useful for people with long-term insomnia because they can encourage us to establish good sleep patterns, and to develop a healthy, positive mental outlook about sleep, as well as dealing with worrying thoughts towards sleeping.

One of the most widely used and successful therapies is Cognitive Behavioural Therapy CBT. This is useful even for people who have had insomnia for a long period of time. A full course of such a therapy with a sleep specialist is potentially costly, and is most appropriate for people with severe sleep problems.

Still, some CBT principles can be appropriate and easily practiced for anyone who is experiencing a sleepless night.

Breadcrumb Home Explore mental health Publications. Sleep Matters: The Impact Of Sleep On Health And Wellbeing. Key points: Sleeping poorly increases the risk of having poor mental health.

In the same way that healthy diet and exercise can help to improve our mental health, so can sleep. There is no universal answer to the question of how much sleep a person needs. This varies from person to person. What is important is that people find out how much sleep they need and ensure that they achieve this.

The consequences of poor sleep should be taken seriously in healthcare, education, family life, and society at large. We recommend that: The importance and benefits of sleep for both mental and physical health should be highlighted in national and local public health campaigns, including in schools and workplaces.

New and easily accessible resources should be made available advising people on what they can do themselves to improve their sleep. The Royal College of GPs should provide up to date, evidence-based training and information for its members on the importance and benefits of sleep for physical and mental health.