NPR ran a story on one of my favorite topics this morning and gave me an excuse to talk about it again.
Sleep!
I'm a lifelong insomniac who accidently discovered that a low-carb diet cures my sleep problems. When I started to sleep through the night, my lifelong low-level depression virtually evaporated. It makes sense that if you're not sleeping well, your mood will be poor. Nevertheless I was astonished at how much of a difference it made.
Recently I got a refresher course on how awful insomnia can make me feel. I started eating a lot of chia seeds, and my insomnia came back. I suffered through for 2 or 3 months, hoping I'd adjust to whatever was causing my early waking. During that time, my mood markedly decreased and my ability to handle stress deteriorated. A couple of weeks ago I gave up the chia seeds, and I can sleep again. My mood is now brighter and most of the small stressors of life are rolling off my back. I feel happy and hopeful again.
I sometimes think that if my son could sleep well 85% of his mental illness would vanish. His insomnia makes mine look like nothing.
Here's the link to one of NPR's stories this morning (there are several; they're doing a sleep theme this morning):
'Memory Pinball' And Other Reasons You Need A Nap : NPR
And here's an excerpt (my bolding):
Quote:
So what happens if you don't sleep? "A whole constellation of different brain and body functions start to deteriorate," he says. Our brains are less effective at absorbing new information without sleep. Plus, our ability to retain recently learned information is impaired, and "you lose the chance to essentially hit the save button on that information."
Aside from memorization, sleep deprivation makes it harder for the brain to regulate emotions.
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