Sleep disturbance

Nearly everyone who suffers from depression experiences disturbances in their sleep patterns. You might experience this as

• having difficulty falling asleep
• waking up in the morning but never feeling refreshed
• sleeping ‘lightly’ or shallowly
• waking several times during the night
• waking up early in the mornings
• having an increased number of sleeping cycles
• reduced ‘deep sleep’ phases, the so called REM sleep. Recent research indicates that REM sleep among other things has an effect on memory and learning.

To the contrary, in an atypical depression you sleep more than you normally do.