Less Sleep may Activate Depressive Genes

A recent study looks at how sub-optimal sleep may activate depressive genes.

"Healthy sleep is a necessity for physical, mental and emotional well-being," said American Academy of Sleep Medicine President Dr. M. Safwan Badr, via a press release. "This new research emphasizes that we can make an investment in our health by prioritizing sleep."

Based on a study of 1,788 adult wins, results showed that sleep duration outside the normal range could increase the genetic risk for depressive behaviors. For twins with a normal sleep duration of approximately 7 to 8.9 hours per night, the findings showed that the total heritability of depressive symptoms was 27 percent. Yet the genetic influence on depressive symptoms increased to 53 percent for twins with a short sleep duration of five hours per night and 49 percent among those who reported sleeping less than 10 hours a night.

"We were surprised that the heritability of depressive symptoms in twins with very short sleep was nearly twice the heritability in twins sleeping normal amounts of time," said principal investigator Dr. Nathaniel Watson, associate professor of neurology and co-director of the University of Washington Medicine Sleep Center in Seattle, Wash., via the release "Both short and excessively long sleep durations appear to activate genes related to depressive symptoms," added Watson, who also serves on the board of directors of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine.

"These results are important because they suggest that sleep deprivation may be a precursor for major depression in adolescents, occurring before other symptoms of major depression and additional mood disorders," added principal investigator Dr. Robert E. Roberts, professor of behavioral sciences in the School of Public Health at the University of Texas Health Science Center in Houston, Texas, via the release. "Questions on sleep disturbance and hours of sleep should be part of the medical history of adolescents to ascertain risk."

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More information regarding the study can be found via the journal Sleep.