Most people believe that not getting enough sleep makes people sleepy and lethargic. However, sleep deprivation actually activates the brain's emotional centers most closely associated with psychiatric disorders such as depression.
Professor Mary Carskadon of Brown University said the new study might have implications for adolescents, who are being diagnosed with depression in increasing numbers.
"We don't know if early sleep deprivation projects out to things like major depressive disorder or bipolar illness and whether we're setting our kids up for these major problems as they grow up," she said.
The Berkeley/Harvard study appears in the October 23, 2007 issue of Current Biology.
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Labels: depression, sleep_deprivation, development
Posted By: Aspen Education Group