At face value, it seems like this flies in the face of the commonly-held wisdom that regular patterns of sleep (as well as eating and other habits) help minimiz

At face value, it seems like this flies in the face of the commonly-held wisdom that regular patterns of sleep (as well as eating and other habits) help minimize depression over time. It seems like the research is actually referring to the short-term effect of sleep deprivation on brain chemistry, which makes sense in an evolutionary sense. Maintaining alertness in the face of sleep probably has a hard-wired association at quite a deep level with self-preservation, and I can see how that would explain in some way these findings.