Sleep

[BuryYourFlame]

ok...i recently have started staying up very late...like 4am bed time late...for my own reasons

the thing is...i feel tired...but i also feel no different to how i felt every single day before i started this "ridiculous" bedtime. For as long as i can remember, i have never been not-tired, i can only remember one GOOD sleep, my entire life, the one time that i felt like i had slept at all...and it was on yr 7 camp...

my friends say that i am being very silly, but i feel no difference between going to bed at 9pm and going to bed at 3am, as long as i have about an hours sleep, i am fine when the time comes to wake up.

Another one of my friends claims that the reason why i have been so down lately is because i have not been getting enough sleep...that possible?

so...any advice on how to sleep better? or info regarding sleep and its association to depression? either of these would be appreciated.

P.S. i am going to bed at 8:35p.m. tonight, to see if getting an early night will help.

[byee]

Everyone needs their own amount of sleep, but one hour typically isn't really enough, esp. during puberty. The average is about 7.5-8.5 hours.

I think you might be on to something, though, when you correlate your sleep difficulties with depression. Changes in the neurovegatitive functions (sleep, appetite, energy, libido; those basic functions of life controlled by brain chemistry) are THE indicators of depression. That's b/c the naturally occuring chemicals in the brain that control those functions (neurotransmitters) also control emotion, like depression. So, if you notice a change in sleep/energy level, and feel depressed there's a very good chance your sleep/energy problems are the result of depression.

The fix here is to identify whatever it is that's making you depressed, and address them and manage them so they don't interfere with sleep, etc. if you cannot do this on your own, then it would be time to talk with your folks and get to a doc. Typically, clinical depression (esp. if it has those veggies) doesn't go away on it's own.

[Skeln]

Yes, I have the same problem. Except I can't control when I go to sleep. I'll just lye there in bed for hours without a light or anything to do and still be awake. I'm sure that not enough sleep causes your mood to change negatively. Sure does for me.