Q: Can antidepressants affect my sleep?
There is a strong connection between sleep, sleep disorders, and depression. People with depression typically have difficulties falling asleep, staying asleep, and can wake too early in the morning. With winter depression, or Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) sometimes the opposite can happen; sufferers complain of being excessively sleepy and sleeping in too long.
There is a bit of a chicken-and-egg relationship between sleep and depression. Depression typically leads to significant sleep disturbances and interestingly, sleep disturbances can continue long after depression has been resolved. In other ways, people with significant sleep disturbances -- such as chronic insomnia -- are vulnerable to developing depression if the underlying sleep disturbance is not properly treated.
Antidepressants tend to have strong effects on sleep. Some of the older antidepressants in use (such as Elavil, Tofranil) have a strong sedative effect and you'd typically take it at bedtime. Newer antidepressants such as the drugs commonly called serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs, i.e., Prozac, Zoloft) tend to have more of a stimulating effect, so you'd typically take these medications in the morning and not close to bedtime.
It's important for both you and your prescribing physician to know whether the effect on sleep is sedating or stimulating -- and you need to carefully consider the time you take those medications while monitoring its effects.
Antidepressants can produce very good results, treating depression and improving sleep. Taking the wrong antidepressant at the wrong time of day can be quite a nightmare, robbing you of sleep. If your problem continues, a consultation with a knowledgeable psychiatrist and in some cases, a sleep specialist can be very helpful.
*Snoring, insomnia, fatigue or sleep apnea: What's behind the snooze you lose? Dr. Adam Moscovitch from the Canadian Sleep Institute takes your questions about slumber-stealers from Apr. 14 to May 12. Click here to send in your question.
Dr. Adam Moscovitch is the medical director of the Canadian Sleep Institute in Toronto and Calgary. For more information about sleep medicine, contact the Canadian Sleep Institute at 1-866-98NIGHT (6-4447) or visit csisleep.com.
|
|
more ask the expert
