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There is a long line of research on mood disorders and the ways to deal with those behaviorally and medically. http://www.amazon.com/Manic-Depressive-Illness-D

There is a long line of research on mood disorders and the ways to deal with those behaviorally and medically. http://www.amazon.com/Manic-Depressive-Illness-Disorders-Recurrent-Depression/dp/0195135792 http://www.amazon.com/Manic-Depressive-Illness-Disorders-Rec... It has been known for quite a while that if a person is in a prolonged depressed mood state, simply shortening that person's periods of sleep (usually by getting the person up earlier, to bright light) can do a lot to boost the person's mood state. On the other hand, for the many people who have bipolar mood disorders (so that they have abnormally elevated mood as well as abnormally depressed mood not related to immediate events in the people's lives), sleep deprivation can be dangerous, as it can trigger mania. Severe sleep deprivation can result in all the psychotic symptoms of florid mania even for most people without a medical history of mood disorders, and it is particularly dangerous for people who have already been through an episode of mania. So as other people here have already commented, regularity of sleep (sleep while it's dark, and get up while it's day) is helpful for mood disorders, up or down, and sleep deprivation by itself will not be a cure-all for all cases of depression. AFTER EDIT: I appreciate HN participant falcolas reminding all of us, in a first reply to this comment, that the submitted article is about an animal model of a proposed drug treatment that may have some of the effects of sleep deprivation without having other effects. Yes, that is what the article is about, and I acknowledged that even after reading the article, the first part of this comment's text (above) had as much to do with other comments here as it had to do with the actual article, maybe more. That said, as investigation of new drug treatments moves from animal models to human clinical trials, the thing to look for in any drug proposed to treat "depression" (depressed mood) is whether it might trigger mania (elevated mood) in the patient receiving the treatment. It's tough to develop an animal model of the psychotic symptoms of mania, which is why this is not an easy problem to solve--how to develop a drug that makes depressed patients enjoy normal mood states without breaking through to florid mania.

falcolas 14y ago
From TFA: "This finding points to a promising target for new drug development because it suggests that mimicking sleep deprivation chemically may offer the antidepressant benefits without the unwanted side effects of actually skipping sleep." So no, they aren't recommending sleep deprivation as a method to combat depression. It has, however, given them other lines of research to follow.
- kyro 14y ago
  Nowhere does he claim that sleep deprivation is a recommended treatment. Simply that it has been found to boost depressive moods.
hammock 14y ago
Caffeine works by blocking adenosine receptors. If build up of adenosine can alleviate depression, can its opposite cause or aggravate depression? Is my coffee making me sad?
- xhrpost 14y ago
  From what I've read, when you block your adenosine receptors with caffeine, your body responds by creating more receptors and more adenosine. Hence why you need to drink more coffee to get that 'kick' over time. I would think you would have to look up at what point your adenosine maxes out and what amount of daily caffeine intake that requires. I still get crazy tired later in the day despite my large caffeine intake, so, for me, it seems the adenosine has won. Need to go cold turkey soon and reset everything :)
  - hammock 14y ago
    That's a long-term adaptive effect (you almost make it sound as if caffeine is ineffective at blocking adenosine, which is obviously false). I'm interested in the immediate effect.
    - xhrpost 14y ago
      That's what I was getting at though, the "immediate" effect could be non-existent because you already have adapted a tolerance (early as 10 days by some studies). If not, you should be able to test easily just by judging your mood about 45 minutes after your coffee.
      - deleted 14y ago
        [deleted]
eli_gottlieb 14y ago
Interesting. I've never had any damn idea what's definitely up with my brain, but I've experienced depression before. OTOH, I spend most of my actual life alternating between the managed hot-blooded mania I call normality and the managed lethargy of sleep-deprivation. I actually have to semi-plan my workweek based on when I wake up each day and how much sleep I get, because only on days I've actually slept do I have the mood to deal with people or the energy and concentration to properly get anything done.
DanBC 14y ago
bi-polar mood disorders tend to be quite different to depression. The medication for BPD is very different - putting someone on regular anti-depressants if they're bipolar would be a bad idea.
- tokenadult 14y ago
  Dan, yes, your statement is correct. But a new patient who is depressed and needs treatment for depression is not necessarily distinguishable from a bipolar patient who first seeks treatment during a depressed mood state and has no medical history of elevated mood symptoms. That's the rub: many people with a bipolar mood disorder pattern haven't seen the worst aspects of elevated mood until after they seek treatment for depression.
Florin_Andrei 14y ago
It's been known for quite some time now, centuries, maybe millenia, among people practicing intensive meditation (monks, basically) in many different cultures and religion, that mild sleep deprivation (really, just keeping sleep at a minimum without impairing normal functioning) acts as a safeguard against depressed mood. It's a constant advice in many different schools of meditation: "don't sleep too much, keep your sleep duration at a minimum, wake up early, and meditate".
robbiep 14y ago
Hi TA, You may already know this but generally it is contraindicated to prescribe antidepressants in bipolar (manic-depressive illness) because of the risk of triggering mania. Contra-indicated, but not unknown. Bipolar and depression are, of course, very different illnesses. As an aside, this basic research (binding adenosine receptors) is interestingly at odds with the very interesting drug modafinil which partially works by increasing reuptake/clearing adenosine from the brain, which has been thought to be responsible for its wakefulness promoting and antidepressant effects Thought you would find that interesting

falcolas 14y ago

From TFA: "This finding points to a promising target for new drug development because it suggests that mimicking sleep deprivation chemically may offer the antidepressant benefits without the unwanted side effects of actually skipping sleep." So no, they aren't recommending sleep deprivation as a method to combat depression. It has, however, given them other lines of research to follow.

kyro 14y ago
Nowhere does he claim that sleep deprivation is a recommended treatment. Simply that it has been found to boost depressive moods.

hammock 14y ago

Caffeine works by blocking adenosine receptors. If build up of adenosine can alleviate depression, can its opposite cause or aggravate depression? Is my coffee making me sad?

xhrpost 14y ago
From what I've read, when you block your adenosine receptors with caffeine, your body responds by creating more receptors and more adenosine. Hence why you need to drink more coffee to get that 'kick' over time. I would think you would have to look up at what point your adenosine maxes out and what amount of daily caffeine intake that requires. I still get crazy tired later in the day despite my large caffeine intake, so, for me, it seems the adenosine has won. Need to go cold turkey soon and reset everything :)
- hammock 14y ago
  That's a long-term adaptive effect (you almost make it sound as if caffeine is ineffective at blocking adenosine, which is obviously false). I'm interested in the immediate effect.
  - xhrpost 14y ago
    That's what I was getting at though, the "immediate" effect could be non-existent because you already have adapted a tolerance (early as 10 days by some studies). If not, you should be able to test easily just by judging your mood about 45 minutes after your coffee.
    - deleted 14y ago
      [deleted]

eli_gottlieb 14y ago

Interesting. I've never had any damn idea what's definitely up with my brain, but I've experienced depression before. OTOH, I spend most of my actual life alternating between the managed hot-blooded mania I call normality and the managed lethargy of sleep-deprivation. I actually have to semi-plan my workweek based on when I wake up each day and how much sleep I get, because only on days I've actually slept do I have the mood to deal with people or the energy and concentration to properly get anything done.

DanBC 14y ago

bi-polar mood disorders tend to be quite different to depression. The medication for BPD is very different - putting someone on regular anti-depressants if they're bipolar would be a bad idea.

tokenadult 14y ago
Dan, yes, your statement is correct. But a new patient who is depressed and needs treatment for depression is not necessarily distinguishable from a bipolar patient who first seeks treatment during a depressed mood state and has no medical history of elevated mood symptoms. That's the rub: many people with a bipolar mood disorder pattern haven't seen the worst aspects of elevated mood until after they seek treatment for depression.

Florin_Andrei 14y ago

It's been known for quite some time now, centuries, maybe millenia, among people practicing intensive meditation (monks, basically) in many different cultures and religion, that mild sleep deprivation (really, just keeping sleep at a minimum without impairing normal functioning) acts as a safeguard against depressed mood. It's a constant advice in many different schools of meditation: "don't sleep too much, keep your sleep duration at a minimum, wake up early, and meditate".

robbiep 14y ago

Hi TA, You may already know this but generally it is contraindicated to prescribe antidepressants in bipolar (manic-depressive illness) because of the risk of triggering mania. Contra-indicated, but not unknown. Bipolar and depression are, of course, very different illnesses. As an aside, this basic research (binding adenosine receptors) is interestingly at odds with the very interesting drug modafinil which partially works by increasing reuptake/clearing adenosine from the brain, which has been thought to be responsible for its wakefulness promoting and antidepressant effects Thought you would find that interesting