Study suggests insomnia not just symptom of depression, but possible trigger

• Insomnia, which has been thought of a symptom of depression for quite a long time, may actually trigger the mental disorder, two studies by University of Rochester Sleep and Neurophysiology Research Laboratory researchers have shown.
• The first study, presented at the 19th Annual Meeting of the Associated Professional Sleep Societies in Denver, found that people with insomnia were 17 times more likely to remain depressed after a year than patients who were sleeping well.
• In another study, seniors with insomnia, who had no history of depression, were six times more likely to experience an episode of depression as seniors without insomnia.
• "The assumption has been that if depression is well treated, the insomnia will go away, but this is not the case.
• It is increasingly clear that you can't ignore chronic insomnia [in patients with depression].
• You have to treat it," WebMd quoted lab director Dr. Michael Perlis as saying.
• Perlis said that there is growing evidence linking chronic insomnia (sleep disturbance lasting more than three months) with other common ailments, including high blood pressure and type 2 diabetes.
• "If you don't compensate in any way by changing your habits, the ship is likely to right itself.
• But if you change your habits, by either sleeping later, going to bed earlier, or forcing yourself to stay in bed when you're wide awake, you are laying down the foundation for a more chronic disorder," he said.
• Perlis and his colleagues are also conducting depression studies to determine if treating insomnia reduces the severity or lengthens the time between episodes of depression.