\n<\/p>\n
Have you ever noticed that you\u2019re not quite yourself when you don\u2019t get enough rest? If you\u2019re like me, you are probably more easily irritated or even more emotionally labile when you don\u2019t get quality sleep. Not getting enough sleep can definitely affect your mood and mental health. The reverse is true as well; your mental health can affect your ability to get restful sleep. It\u2019s very common for people with anxiety, depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), and other mental health conditions to also have problems with insomnia. This isn\u2019t just anecdotal evidence; research shows that there is a very strong connection between quality and quantity of sleep and your mental health.<\/p>\n
A lack of sleep negatively affects mental health because of sleep\u2019s effect on inflammation. Let me explain. If you don\u2019t sleep at all for two or more nights in a row, we will likely see an increase in your C-reactive protein (CRP), an important marker in the body that lets us know there is inflammation present. If, on the other hand, you get some sleep each night but not nearly as much as you need, and this occurs for somewhere between two and fourteen days, we will likely see your monocytes (a type of white blood cell) produce higher levels of interleukin-6. Interleukin-6 is a protein in the body that can act as a pro-inflammatory marker and is produced whenever there is acute or chronic inflammation. Moral of the story: we know that, all things being equal, not getting sufficient sleep increases inflammation within the body.<\/p>\n
Here\u2019s what this has to do with your mental health:\u00a0research\u00a0<\/a>demonstrates<\/a>\u00a0that increased levels of interleukin-6 are associated with a variety of psychiatric disorders, including major depression, bipolar disorder, PTSD, OCD, and other disorders. In some cases, insomnia comes first; in other cases, the psychiatric diagnosis comes first but, essentially, sleep disturbances lead to an increase in interleukin-6, which leads to the onset or worsening of mental health concerns, which leads to an increase in sleep disturbances, and the cycle continues.<\/p>\n Research<\/a>\u00a0demonstrates that a lack of sleep increases a person\u2019s risk of developing eating disorders such as anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, binge-eating disorder, and nighttime eating syndrome. Unfortunately, having an eating disorder also increases the likelihood of experiencing sleep disturbances. In addition to these relationships, people who have eating disorders and don\u2019t get enough sleep tend to report more severe symptoms and more difficulty functioning during the daytime than those who have eating disorders but do get enough sleep. A similar situation exists with anxiety, depression, and other mental health concerns; poor mental health leads to poor sleep quality (or vice versa) which leads to worsening sleep quality and worsening mental health, and those who don\u2019t get enough sleep tend to report having more severe symptoms than those who do.<\/p>\n Many people take prescription medication such as eszopiclone (Lunesta) and zolpidem (Ambien) to help them sleep. The problem with this solution is that your body can build up a tolerance to these sedatives rather quickly and this can lead to chemical dependence. You then find yourself in a position where you initially had one problem (insomnia), but now you have two (insomnia and dependence \/ addiction).<\/p>\n To add to the difficulty of the situation, we are all unique, as far as our genetics are concerned, and some of us process medication differently than others. For example, most pharmaceutical medications are processed through a network of enzymes mainly found in the liver called the cytochrome P450 (CYP450) system. Lunesta is processed through a CYP450 enzyme called CYP3A4. Some people, myself included, are rapid metabolizers of the CYP3A4 enzyme. That means that when they take a medication that is processed by this enzyme, the body breaks it down very quickly, so they need to take higher dosages to get the same effect as a person who has normal activity at that enzyme.<\/p>\n What we see happening, then, is that people who have CYP450 enzymes that are more \u201chyperactive\u201d than the average person are put on medication that is supposed to be processed by that enzyme. Because their bodies process the drugs more quickly than expected, they need higher and higher dosages in order to achieve the desired effect. The body builds up a tolerance to each increased dose and they need to take more, until they find themselves chemically dependent on the drug.\u00a0If you\u2019re a woman of childbearing age, this is also of concern because many of these drugs are not exactly recommended during pregnancy or while breastfeeding, as research in animal models suggests that sleep aids can lead to toxicity in the unborn child when taken during pregnancy and may be problematic during lactation as well.<\/p>\n As you can imagine (or may know by experience), this is a very undesirable situation to find yourself in. In fact, it\u2019s in everyone\u2019s best interest (your doctor included) to interrupt this vicious cycle as soon as possible, before it progresses and snowballs into a mess: poor mental health, insomnia, chemical dependence, strained relationships, and worse. Here are some things that I recommend to break the cycle of insomnia and poor mental health:<\/p>\n If you would like to learn more about the effects genetics, sleep, and inflammation, as well as thyroid function, reproductive hormones, and other physiological and lifestyle factors are affecting your mental health, you\u2019ll want to check out my latest book,\u00a0Optimize Your Body, Heal Your Mind.<\/em><\/a>\u00a0or\u00a0click here to learn more about how we can work together<\/a>. -Dr. Janelle Louis, ND<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Have you ever noticed that you\u2019re not quite yourself when you don\u2019t get enough rest? If you\u2019re like me, you are probably more easily irritated or even more emotionally labile when you don\u2019t get quality sleep. Not getting enough sleep can definitely affect your mood and mental health. The reverse is true as well; your […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[96886],"tags":[11679,4519,7470,597,4391,18455,29111,4850,145295,15815,8023],"dealstore":[],"offerexpiration":[],"class_list":["post-7071156","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-genetics","tag-affect","tag-focus","tag-genetics","tag-health","tag-healthcare","tag-inflammation","tag-integrative","tag-mental","tag-psychiatry","tag-unexpected","tag-ways"],"yoast_head":"\nAn Illustration of the Vicious Cycle
<\/h2>\nGenetics, Prescription Sleep Aids, and Mental Health
<\/h2>\nInterrupting the Vicious Cycle<\/h2>\n
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