Insomnia Sleep Deprivation

Does lack of sleep / insomnia cause depression after 2 months?

After 2 months with only 3 or 4 hours of sleep per night, this lead to depression?

Yes, 2 months is an awful long time to sleep 3 to 4 hours a night. You may ask yourself if there was an incident that caused you have problems with sleep. Have you been under more stress than usual? Sleep problems and depression both affect each other. In other words, depression often causes problems of sleep. On the other hand, sleep deprivation lead to depression. You might consider to see a doctor to see if there is no medical reason for not sleeping well. Some times doctors will refer you to a psychiatrists who specialize in the treatment of mood disorders, and can also help you sleep. One problem with doctors, in my opinion, is that many of them believe that almost all problems can be solved with pills, pills, pills. You might have better luck at first to see a licensed counselor or psychotherapist. They can provide suggestions that may improve your sleep. Below is a very long list I once wrote about ways to fall asleep. The list is so long that the reader can put you to sleep What helped me a lot to fall asleep, especially when my mind was racing, was to lie in bed and listen to relaxation CDs, especially those that contain someone to talk to relaxing music in the background. The combination of voice and music is very soothing. Many of these CDs are available on eBay for very low prices. A warm bath is a great way to help you sleep (depending on season). If you can not take a bath, you can give yourself a foot massage with some warm massage oil, sesame oil, or castor oil from a health food store. A useful technique is to relax your body one part at a time. So you can relax your feet, your legs, upper legs, moving up from the lower abdomen to the chest, etc., until the whole body is relaxed. Of course, relaxation methods can help guide, imagine the country, the beach, or whatever is most soothing for you. If you have any annoying thoughts or personal issues that go through your mind when you try to sleep, you may have to deal with these issues first. You may want to talk to a counselor or therapist about it. I suggest that you avoid prescription sleeping pills, if nothing else helps. There are herbs that can help you to sleep, for example, Valerian root, kava kava, chamomile, hops, passion flower, skullcap. Probably, Valerian root and kava kava are the best. But what most people do not know is that it may take some weeks for some herbs to build the system before they work. The minerals calcium and magnesium may be helpful for sleep. You can also try 5-HTP, trytophan or melatonin (about 3 mg). I would not take melatonin for over months unless your doctor says it is ok.