NEW YOU Health Tip: Feeling blue? Check your circadian clock.
As it turns out, sleep patterns—too much or too little—display a strong reciprocal relationship to the incidence of depression. A study, published in the Sleep journal evaluated 1,788 adult twins. Those with normal sleep patterns (7 – 8.9 hours) showed a genetic risk of depression at 27%. Those who slept five hours had a 53% risk. Perhaps most surprisingly, those who slept 10 hours or more indicated a 49% risk of depression (almost double that of normal sleepers). While there may never be “enough hours in the day” to get everything done, the cost of forcing yourself awake may not be worth the reward. While sleeping in an extra few hours may also be tempting, it can negatively affect your mental health. Commit to planning your sleep patterns like your plan all the obligations and activities in your day—carefully and calculated.
