Why does depression make you sleepy

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SAMHSA’s National Helpline is a free, confidential, 24/7, 365-day-a-year treatment referral and information service (in English and Spanish) for individuals and families facing mental and/or substance use disorders.
Also visit the online treatment locator.

SAMHSA’s National Helpline, 1-800-662-HELP (4357) (also known as the Treatment Referral Routing Service), or TTY: 1-800-487-4889 is a confidential, free, 24-hour-a-day, 365-day-a-year, information service, in English and Spanish, for individuals and family members facing mental and/or substance use disorders. This service provides referrals to local treatment facilities, support groups, and community-based organizations.

Also visit the online treatment locator, or send your zip code via text message: 435748 (HELP4U) to find help near you. Read more about the HELP4U text messaging service.

The service is open 24/7, 365 days a year.

English and Spanish are available if you select the option to speak with a national representative. Currently, the 435748 (HELP4U) text messaging service is only available in English.

In 2020, the Helpline received 833,598 calls. This is a 27 percent increase from 2019, when the Helpline received a total of 656,953 calls for the year.

The referral service is free of charge. If you have no insurance or are underinsured, we will refer you to your state office, which is responsible for state-funded treatment programs. In addition, we can often refer you to facilities that charge on a sliding fee scale or accept Medicare or Medicaid. If you have health insurance, you are encouraged to contact your insurer for a list of participating health care providers and facilities.

The service is confidential. We will not ask you for any personal information. We may ask for your zip code or other pertinent geographic information in order to track calls being routed to other offices or to accurately identify the local resources appropriate to your needs.

No, we do not provide counseling. Trained information specialists answer calls, transfer callers to state services or other appropriate intake centers in their states, and connect them with local assistance and support.

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Last Updated: 08/30/2022

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The Locator is authorized by the 21st Century Cures Act (Public Law 114-255, Section 9006; 42 U.S.C. 290bb-36d). SAMHSA endeavors to keep the Locator current. All information in the Locator is updated annually from facility responses to SAMHSA’s National Substance Use and Mental Health Services Survey (N-SUMHSS). New facilities that have completed an abbreviated survey and met all the qualifications are added monthly. Updates to facility names, addresses, telephone numbers, and services are made weekly for facilities informing SAMHSA of changes. Facilities may request additions or changes to their information by sending an e-mail to [email protected], by calling the BHSIS Project Office at 1-833-888-1553 (Mon-Fri 8-6 ET), or by electronic form submission using the Locator online application form (intended for additions of new facilities).

Drowsiness in depression: why you want to sleep

Drowsiness and depression accompany each other. Often expressed manifestations of a depressive state are insomnia, hypersomnia, narcolepsy. Numerous clinical studies have proven the existence of common pathophysiological mechanisms in mental disorders and sleep.

What is sleep

Sleep is a physiological state of the body, characterized by depression of consciousness and physical activity, consists of several stages:

Stage 1 slow - 5 to 10 minutes. From wakefulness to drowsiness, then the person falls asleep.
Stage 2 slow - 15 to 20 minutes.
Stage 3-4 (delta sleep) - up to 45 minutes. Then the steps are reversed. The delta stage is replaced by a light stage, again a fast and light stage, then awakening may occur.

Full sleep occurs 45-50 minutes after falling asleep, the fast stage - after 1-1.5 hours. The norm of sleep for different people can be from 4 to 10 hours and above. The fast phase is the shortest in the elderly, the paradoxical phase is the longest in young children.

Hypersomnia and narcolepsy in depression: symptoms

Depression and daytime sleepiness often coexist. This condition is called hypersomnia, characterized by a constant craving for sleep. Despite a good night's rest, the patient feels tired. Symptoms of the disorder:

Difficulty waking up, lethargy, weakness during the day.
Inhibited thinking after awakening.
Difficulties with attention and thinking during the day.
Feeling of impotence.

Long night sleep, tendency to doze off during the day.
Inability to perform quality tasks at the workplace, at school, college, difficulties in maintaining the daily routine.

Disturbed sleep occurs as a result of the following factors:

Increased anxiety and depression.
Hormonal changes.
Painkillers or hormonal drugs may cause hypersomnia.
Brain damage, stroke, tumors, radiation to the head.
Drug and alcohol addiction.
Apnea.
Poor sleep hygiene.
Insomnia at night.
In some cases, it is not possible to determine the cause of the disorder, this disease is called idiopathic hypersomnia.

Children suffering from hypersomnia need to create special conditions at school, which include rest during classes. Most often, the disorder occurs in children with tumors that cause damage to the brain, the area responsible for sleep function. Narcolepsy refers to neurological disorders, the patient is worried about drowsiness during the daytime. It is believed that narcolepsy develops as a result of a lack of a neurotransmitter in the brain. Reasons for the development of narcolepsy:

Hereditary predisposition.
Stress, increased anxiety, depression.
Hormonal changes.
Infectious lesions.
Traumatic brain injury.

Symptoms of the disease:

Night sleep disorders.
Daytime fatigue.
Sudden falling asleep in any position, anywhere during the daytime.
Sleep paralysis.
Attack of a drop in muscle tone.
Hallucination on waking or falling asleep.

Sleep disorder: insomnia

Insomnia, or insomnia, is a common disorder that often accompanies various mental illnesses, disorders of the nervous system and other pathological conditions. Insomnia manifests itself as difficulty falling asleep, waking up early in the morning, and frequent awakenings at night. If the body does not rest at night, then various disorders appear:

Memory impairment.
Weakening of attention.
Sudden change of mood.
Decreased or lack of motivation, unwillingness to take the initiative.
Propensity to commit various actions due to constant lack of sleep - the risk of an accident increases, injury in the workplace.
Difficulties in communicating with people.
Chronic headache.
Violation of the gastrointestinal tract.
Nervousness, increased anxiety.
Fatigue.
Daytime sleepiness.

The diagnosis of "insomnia" is established on the basis of several indicators:

Night sleep disturbance.
Daytime sleepiness.
Frequency of sleep disturbance.

The disorder is recognized as a real disease if the above disorders occur in the patient more than three times a week for a certain time. One of the reasons for the development of insomnia is stress, but it does not become a factor in the chronic course of the disease. Insomnia during depression can cause disorders in the functioning of organs and body systems. As a result, working capacity decreases, social contacts are violated. Insomnia quadruples the risk of developing depression, people with this disorder often become alcoholics, use drugs uncontrollably to restore normal sleep.

Causes of sleep disorders

The human nervous system controls all processes in the body. The autonomic nervous system works autonomously, it controls the body without conscious control by a person. Controls the heartbeat, pressure, digestion and other processes, regulates the functioning of the body during physical exertion, stress, rest. Researchers have found that the cause of insomnia is brain hyperactivity. In patients, the tone of the sympathetic over the parasympathetic nervous system predominates.

The parasympathetic nervous system is responsible for restoring lost energy, rest and rest at night. It affects the heart rate, stimulates the glands of the digestive tract and the muscles of the gastrointestinal tract.

The sympathetic nervous system causes an increase in heart rate, increases energy consumption during stress, strong excitement, anxiety. The high tone of the sympathetic nervous system leads to an increase in blood pressure, accelerated breathing, the patient is worried about insomnia. The sympathetic nervous system of depressed patients is constantly in a hyperactive state, even when they sleep.

Tests for hormones show high levels of cortisol, which rises significantly before bedtime, as a result, a depressed patient sees bad dreams, he is tormented by nightmares. Hyperactivity of the nervous system creates a predisposition to the development of insomnia. In the event of a stressful situation, strong overexcitation, a short-term conflict, insomnia develops. This condition disappears after the stabilization of the body, when the stress ends. Depressive disorder causes chronic insomnia.

Insomnia can be the cause of the patient's actions, which independently provoke sleep disturbance by certain actions. Paradoxical insomnia occurs when the patient does not feel the state of sleep at all, believes that he never sleeps, turns to doctors for help, but it is impossible to convince him otherwise. To determine the disease state, patients undergo special studies. Acute insomnia disappears on its own after the termination of the stressful situation. A chronic condition is treated for years, very often patients do not seek help from doctors, the treatment is carried out on their own.

As a result, dependence on sleeping pills develops.

Depressive sleep: nightmares

Depressive sleep is characterized by disturbances in falling asleep, duration, efficiency, change of sleep phases. Anxiety and depressive states become the main cause of the disorder. Panic disorders are more common in women, panic attacks can be disturbing at night. The lack of a good night's rest, bad dreams, nightmares, lead to an aggravation of the condition. Patients complain of difficulty in falling asleep, sleep does not bring satisfaction, fatigue is felt in the morning.

Depression and bad dreams are often diagnosed in patients with anxiety disorders. In a dream, the patient sees terrible events, experiences them hard, experiences fear, dies, often wakes up screaming, covered in sweat. Depressive insomnia may be associated with severe emotional experiences, stress that patients experience during wakefulness. The cause of nightmares can be different factors:

Overeating before going to bed.
Drinking coffee and alcohol in the evening.
Fatty and spicy food.
Pungent odours.
The room is hot or cold.
Loud sounds and bright lights.
Reading bad news at night.

Bad dreams are one of the pronounced symptoms of atypical and other types of depression and anxiety. If dreams are not caused by a depressive state, you can fight the disorder with the help of certain rules:

Before going to bed, you must stop watching negative news, horror films.
Take a warm bath with aromatic oils.
Turn on calm, pleasant music.
A walk before going to bed has a good effect on the patient.
An hour before going to bed, you must turn off the TV, phone.

Diagnosis and treatment

Diagnosis of the disorder begins with taking an anamnesis, questioning the patient and his relatives. The doctor prescribes an examination using CT, MRI of the head, registration of brain activity at rest, a test for depression, blood tests.

The true causes of the lack of brain neurotransmitters are still unknown. To improve the condition, the doctor prescribes drugs for depression, sedatives and hypnotics, antidepressants, depending on the results of the examination.

Daytime sleepiness: causes and treatment

Hypersomnia is not an independent disease, but a symptom that accompanies various diseases and conditions.

Daytime sleepiness is usually considered a sign of lack of sleep or some kind of disturbance in normal sleep, but researchers have come to the conclusion that latent depression, somatic pathology and obesity can be much more likely to cause such sleepiness. People suffering from intractable daytime sleepiness should first of all be examined for depression and diabetes, thyroid and nervous system pathology, regardless of the presence or absence of specific symptoms of sleep disturbance.

There are many reasons why a person can fall asleep in the daytime:

- Poor quality night sleep

- physical inactivity (a sedentary lifestyle) due to a poorly ventilated room, as well as due to sedentary work that is not associated with physical activity,

- idiopathic hypersomnia,

- limb movement syndrome during sleep,

- delayed sleep phase syndrome,

- overeating, especially with a lot of high-calorie foods,

- drinking a lot of chocolate, coffee, various energy drinks and even strong tea,

- avitaminosis,

- sometimes the desire to sleep is due to a lack of sunlight,

- quick change of time zones, especially immediately after the flight,

- bad habits,

- Iron-deficiency anemia,

— obesity,

- taking sedatives (sedatives), antihistamines and other medicines,

- an overdose of a number of stimulants of the nervous system,

- infectious diseases, especially in the recovery stage,

- low blood pressure,

- hidden astheno-neurotic and depressive states,

- atherosclerosis of the coronary arteries or cerebral vessels,

- intoxication,

- diseases of the nervous system,

- narcolepsy,

- low or high blood glucose levels,

- endocrine disorders,

- somatic diseases,

- organic diseases and brain injuries,

- the most common and dangerous cause of severe daytime sleepiness is obstructive sleep apnea syndrome,

- and many others.

It is necessary to distinguish psychophysiological hypersomnia . It is observed in practically healthy people with insufficient night sleep or under stress.

Chronic snoring. Daytime sleepiness occurs because snoring can cause frequent micro-awakenings of the brain. This leads to the fact that the structure of sleep is disturbed, and it is fragmented. The body and brain do not rest at night.

The most common and dangerous cause of severe daytime weakness and drowsiness is obstructive sleep apnea syndrome . This disease is characterized by severe daytime sleepiness, accompanied by fatigue, lethargy, weakness, as well as neurological disorders caused by a violation of the structure of night sleep.

Diabetes mellitus is a disease of the endocrine system with a decrease in the production of the hormone insulin by the pancreas or resistance of body tissues to insulin. Insulin is a conductor of glucose into cells, which is their main source of energy. In diabetes, there is an imbalance between the intake of glucose and its utilization by the body. Drowsiness can be a sign of both excess glucose in the body and its lack. And the progression of drowsiness may indicate a formidable complication of diabetes - coma. In addition to drowsiness, diabetes mellitus is characterized by symptoms such as thirst, weakness, increased urine output, skin itching, and dizziness. Each person should know their blood sugar level, for this you need to pass a simple test at your clinic or any diagnostic center.

Hypothyroidism is a syndrome caused by an underactive thyroid gland. Often this disease is masked behind other diseases. Most often, primary hypothyroidism appears as a result of autoimmune thyroiditis or as a result of treatment for thyrotoxicosis. It is also possible to develop hypothyroidism as a side effect of amiodarone therapy in the treatment of cardiac arrhythmias and cytokines in the treatment of infectious hepatitis. Symptoms of this disease, in addition to drowsiness, include fatigue, dry skin, slow speech, swelling of the face and hands, constipation, chilliness, memory loss, depression, menstrual disorders and infertility in women.

But, the causes of daytime sleepiness are often associated with the diet of consumed products. Even in the case of a good night's sleep, when a person gets enough sleep, he may experience severe daytime sleepiness. The secret lies in the composition of the food people eat during the day. After fatty food, it starts to fall asleep, and carbohydrate-rich food, on the contrary, increases concentration and performance. The protein content had no effect on drowsiness.

Brain injury can also cause drowsiness. Headaches, dizziness, bruising under the eyes and an episode of previous traumatic brain injury should alert the patient.

In most cases, excessive daytime sleepiness is a common symptom of narcolepsy. This is a rare form of sleep disturbance in which a person suddenly falls asleep, and then wakes up as if nothing had happened.

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