Is Taking Depression Naps Effective Way to Treat Depression?

Sad naps are a reality because mental health and sleep are closely related. As reported on Johns Hopkins Medicine, a nap lasting 30-90 minutes can benefit the brains of older people. However, anything longer than that can harm you.

Taking naps longer than usual? Click the button below to know if they are just naps or depression naps.

Therefore, you may take the occasional nap hoping to get rid of depression, but is there any evidence that they work?

This article examines whether depression naps can eliminate depression.

What Are Depression Naps?

The practice sees you take frequent naps whenever you are feeling down. Some people use the depression nap as an escape from momentary worries, which may boost their mood.

While it may be a sign of underlying mental health issues, a depression nap may not mean you’re depressed. Sure, it is not a clinical term, but the closest you can get is hypersomnia [1*] or excessive sleep.

With time, excessive napping significantly affects your:

• Output
• Concentration
• Energy levels

Some of the symptoms and characteristics of depression naps [2*] vary from one person to another–it depends on age, lifestyle, and other underlying causes, including excessive napping, especially when faced with challenging situations.

After a round of depression naps, a person feels unusually fatigued all the time, which can lead to other ailments.

Despite constant napping, you continually feel drowsy and never refreshed on waking up as depression sleeping saps your energy.

Your mind feels foggy, slowing down your decision-making process. In addition, your concentration levels decline, decreasing alertness when attending to duties.

Excessive napping leaves you anxious and irritable.

That explains how depression naps aggravate the condition since anxiety can lead to severe conditions like clinical depression.

Is napping excessively a sign of depression? Click below to get professional guidance.

If you keep taking naps just to get away from depressing feelings, it may be a symptom of psychological disorders like insomnia and anxiety.

Diagnosing Depression Naps

Clinicians face a challenge when trying to pinpoint whether frequent napping is a depression nap or just a habit. To help them along, start by examining whether you have met the basic sleep requirements.

• Scrutinize Your Lifestyle for Some Time. Take note of:

• • Sleeping 
  • Eating habits
  • Medication
  • Socialization
  • Physical exercise

Analyze how you attend to daily activities versus your resting times. Burnout and fatigue are primary triggers of stress that can lead to depression.

However, if you experience mood decline and lose interest in what you found pleasurable, you should probably seek professional assistance. Depression causes oversleeping or non-restful sleeping.

Similarly, sleeping challenges can contribute to symptoms of depression, leading to depression sleeping.

In short, identifying depression napping will require you to analyze your feelings, such as sadness, despair, and hopelessness, and how they affect your mental abilities. If they contribute to frequent napping, you may be experiencing depression naps.

Causes of Depression Naps

• Insufficient Sleep

Lack of enough sleep will leave you with sleep debt. Working for long hours leaves a person with a recurring urge to sleep at any moment.

• Underlying Medical Conditions and Medications

The conditions like the ones mentioned below causes:

• Oesophageal reflux
• Head injury
• Underactive thyroid gland
• Asthma

Oher pain-inflicting conditions cause sleep disruption. Likewise, antihistamines, caffeine drinks, tranquilizers, and alcohol disrupt sleep [3*] .

• Mental Conditions and Sleep Disorders

Having bipolar and anxiety makes you prone to depression naps as you’ll lack sleep at night. Similarly, people with sleep disorders have disrupted and fragmented sleep.

• Changing Work Shift

If you work shifts, especially the night shift, you’re likely to experience napping. That’s because your body’s mental, physical, and behavior routine around the 24-hour cycle (circadian rhythm) fails to synchronize with the new sleeping pattern.

• Environmental Issues and Changing time Zones

Nighttime happenings may contribute to depression nappings, such as a:

• Snoring partner
• A wailing baby at night
• Or an uncomfortable mattress

Further, extreme weather conditions can contribute to disrupted sleeping. Changing time zones will confuse your circadian rhythm and disrupt your sleeping patterns.

Treatment and Coping With Depression Naps

The cause of depression naps will determine its treatment. You have to assist in identifying what you are experiencing to help determine the next course of action.

Part of the treatment may not even require medication, just an adjustment in routine and habits. If you don’t get adequate sleep, that could be easier to address.

• One of the best tips includes going to sleep at the same time every evening.
• Further, don’t engage with gadgets such as TVs and mobile phones for a while before hopping into bed.
• Select a comfortable bed in a well-ventilated room that’s neither too hot nor cold.
• Eat a healthy diet to prevent nutritional deficiency issues and maintain energy levels.
• Additionally, exercise frequently to sustain optimal weight.
• Refrain from taking alcohol, caffeinated drinks, or smoking cigarettes before going to sleep.
• When necessary, take power naps as they help you recharge.
• Naps lasting less than 30 minutes leave you vigilant.
• Medication can also prove useful. The most common are stimulants as they help keep you awake.

Is medication the most effective treatment for depression naps? Click below to get professional help.

Wrapping Up

If you are frequently napping to get away from unwanted occurrences, you could be taking depression naps. Although you may experience calm sleep, sad naps are not an effective way of dealing with depression.

Contact the EZCare Clinic doctors today for specialized depression treatment.