Sleep patterns, depression, addiction...what else?

[FirstLight]

Original thread: https://www.democraticunderground.com/100215480192


So I guess I am feeling what a lot of folks must be. With the "lost year" of Covid, many of us slipped into more lax sleep patterns, maybe imbibing more to ease the depression that inevitably comes with not really having a feeling of purpose. Not having to "show up" in a literal sense really does seem to be an issue, who'd a thunk?

(so mine was a bit longer, so I guess I had a head start on many who just got hit last year, lol)

Anyway, there was a reply to the above thread that really helped me take it away from being a personal bash on myself and understanding this as a "group" phenomenon.

(see reply #37) here's a snip:

The study of 840,000 people, by researchers at University of Colorado Boulder and the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, represents some of the strongest evidence yet that chronotype -- a person's propensity to sleep at a certain time -- influences depression risk.

It's also among the first studies to quantify just how much, or little, change is required to influence mental health.

As people emerge, post-pandemic, from working and attending school remotely -- a trend that has led many to shift to a later sleep schedule -- the findings could have important implications.

"We have known for some time that there is a relationship between sleep timing and mood, but a question we often hear from clinicians is: How much earlier do we need to shift people to see a benefit?" said senior author Celine Vetter, assistant professor of integrative physiology at CU Boulder. "We found that even one-hour earlier sleep timing is associated with significantly lower risk of depression."

link:https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2021/05/210528114107.htm


Needless to say, the steps to fix it are still in MY hands. But it feels like it is less of a character flaw when I know that it's a brain thing and others do it too.

~ ~ ~

I did the light out/screen off thing last night at 10...took a bath and played music, did some doodling by low lamp till I was tired, and switched to delta/theta wave music for deep sleep 6 hours play... (had a bit of a weird thing happen in the neighborhood, so I had to get back up and deal with it...) all in all I got to sleep between 12:30-1am and woke up at 8:30, snoozed till 9 ish when the neighbor started their chainsaw!

I only had 2 beers with dinner, then water the rest of the night. No hard liquor. No cigs after 9pm. (considering I was going to bed @ 3-4 am till 12pm I'll take it!!!)

It's ALL still a work in progress. I know there will be days I "slip" but this has been a LONG habit of self indulgence and icky feelings... they say it only takes 21 days to change a habit. We shall see