Turning The Tides on Depression and Insomnia

Once in a "blue moon" (as my mother used to say) not sleeping is no reason for alarm. In the world today there are literally thousands of external stressors that will cause an occasional bout of acute insomnia. These stressors won't always lead you to a bad case of depression and insomnia. On that occasional sleepless night, you are best served by simply using the awake time to catch up on some reading, watch a good movie, and otherwise not concern yourself that you'll never sleep again.

It's only when insomnia turns chronic and habitual that we have to look at the underlying causes, to try and find a solution that helps. And by helping to solve the problem without hurting us in some way we must look to natural remedies first, otherwise our treatments can result in having a reverse of their intended effect. Certain medications for example, such as over the counter and prescription sleeping pills, can hinder our body's own natural ability to affect sleep and therefor they should be considered as only a last resort, and most importantly, only as a short term solution. Being dependent on prescription sleep aids is not a good road to travel.



I'm always on the hunt for solutions that do not involve drugs or other harmful treatments but that statement comes with this disclaimer: I'm not a tree hugging, psychedelic alternative medicine guru wannabe. Not in the least. Dwelling on finding natural solutions comes only from seeing the research and thus knowing that they are highly effective - sometimes more so than their pharmacological counterparts. Just so we're all clear, prescription sleep aids truly do have their place in treating insomnia. By applying natural insomnia cures as a first response, we are allowing our body a chance to prove it can cure itself. As a rule, attempting the least invasive approach first is just good common sense.

How Does Insomnia Lead To Depression?

The interesting thing about natural sleep disorder treatments is that many also come highly recommended as effective treatments for depression. Knowing this, we can make a logical mental leap that it's not just the treatments that co-relate, but the disorders themselves. In people suffering depression, there is a significantly lower level of serotonin level in the body. Since serotonin is so crucially important to regulating moods and the body's sleep cycle, it's fairly obvious why having a decreased serotonin production will lead to increased instances of depression. In my last post (Depression and Insomnia Like Each Other, A Lot) I outlined how decreased serotonin and depression leads to insomnia, but just as importantly, chronic insomnia can lead to a decrease in serotonin - which can end in a depressed state.

To be frank however, this is a "chicken and egg" question. Which disorder causes which is rather a redundant path to scrutinize. However there are a few factors to understand when looking at how insomnia can be the cause, not the symptom, of depression. Here's a few obvious reasons:

• being overtired leads to being less effective at problem solving. Over time a negative reaction can lead to depressive disorders.
• Fatigue makes it difficult to cope with many stressful situations, leading to depression.
• Extreme fatigue leads to feelings of hopelessness, sadness, and an inability to control emotional responses. This obviously will lead to depression when left unchecked.

As I've eluded before, treating depression with SSRI medications (such as Prozac and the like) can help reduce insomnia a great deal. But there is also a strong case for how treating insomnia with various natural sleep disorder treatments (like Sleep Tracks) can significantly reduce cases of depression. The two conditions are so closely related that treating one will normally have positive benefits on the other.

If you're feeling like you have a case of the blues, and that it may have something to do with your inability to sleep, I highly recommend a combination of both the Sleep Tracks program and getting to your GP for a prescription SSRI. Neither are dangerous, neither are addictive, and using both in concert is a very effective weapon against both depression and insomnia.

Depression and Insomnia Like Each Other, A Lot.

Depression and insomnia go hand in hand. While it may be a common assumption that depressed people sleep a lot, in at least as many cases of depression a significant lack of sleep is noted. As a result, chronic insomnia is often a symptom of deeper rooted depressive disorders, and when looking into causes for insomnia, doctors will often closely examine a patients current state of mind. If depression is successfully diagnosed, in many instances insomnia will be the result of that depression.

This is why, in some cases, when people seek out a doctor to help with insomnia they are prescribed an SSRI tablet as a treatment option. In cases of chronic insomnia coupled with depression, it is very common to be provided with a short term dose of popular sleep medications as well as the longer term SSRI meds. This is done because an SSRI takes time, sometimes up to 2 weeks to be effective at inhibiting seratonin re-absorption. A sleeping pill is used to allow for proper rest until the SSRI is up to speed in your system. I'll get into that a little more later on, but if you were treated for insomnia with a prescription sleeping med as well as an SSRI such as Prozac, e.t.c... don't panic, your doctor knows what he's on about.

Depression is normally treated with the ever popular Paxil, Zoloft, Prozac, e.t.c... which are all SSRI derivatives (Selective Seratonin Reuptake Inhibitors). As I eluded, these medications work to stop Seratonin from being reabsorbed back into the nerve cells of your brain. It useful to know what seratonin is, for the purpose of understanding how suh a deficiency can cause insomnia.



What Is Seratonin?
Seratonin is a neurotransmitter that produces what we often think of as the "happy" feeling. It is the neurotransmitter that most regulates moods within a functioning, normal brain. Melatonin - the hormone our body produces to reguate sleep patterns is made from seratonin - so to speak - in that it is not uncommon to see an increase in melatonin production of up to 48%, when tied to SSRI medication use. So, following this particular rabbit hole, we can see where the logical path ends. This is why many people prescribed an SSRI will comment on how their sleep cycles become more regular while on the medication.

What is perhaps less widely known is that seratonin is produced from tryptophan, and therefore not a direct result of brain activity, persay. Tryptophan is produced via food digestion and metabolizing, so it stands to reason that when your digestion is not working properly, you will not be producing the right amounts of tryptophan - and as a result - seratonin. Properly digesting proteins and amino acids breaks down tryptophan into seratonin, and when the digestive tract is unhealthy or diseased, this will cause problems such as insomnia and depression.

Most general practitioners may miss this important fact when prescribing your sleep meds and SSRI meds, overlooking a potentially serious situation. Doctors that are well versed in SSRI pathology are known to look directly at your digestive system to be sure there is no lingering issues there that could cause a mal-absorption of your nutrients.

If the root cause of the problem of depression and insomnia is the digestive system, then it only makes sense to look after this issue. Having a proper diagnostic procedure(s) done to determine your digestive health is paramount. Having said that, it is always wise to use what you can for the short term, but not at the expense of finding the core of the problem. In more cases than are widely known, depression is often traced back to a problem with your nutrition and/or digestive system's ability to metabolize foods - foods that provide the building blocks for every neurotransmitter that your cells and brain needs to properly function.

Should you be considering the possibility that your insomnia and depression are co-related, they very well may be. And the answer is not always within the pharmacy walls. You should first ask yourself if the following symptoms affects you on a regular basis:

• indigestion/ heartburn
• frequent gas/ wind
  
• Constipation
• Chronic/ constant diarrhea

Any of these symptoms - in any combination - on a chronic (recurring) basis, can be the root cause of your depression and insomnia. Now I certainly would never promote NOT taking a prescription for depression, as in the short term it will be something you likely require to feel better and get some proper rest. However, dealing with the issues of proper digestion are likely the single most important factor in maintaining a healthy body, so with that in mind, don't hesitate to get a proper check up to be assured you are not suffering from a hidden chronic digestion issue.

Now you know that depression and insomnia are close cousins in the family of rotten conditions we can encounter, so it's very important to note that one leads to the other. In some cases, which I will detail in future articles, insomnia is the root cause of depressive disorders. This is an entirely different beast of course, mutually exclusive of the above details. God never makes things simple it would seem. :)