In some families, there are a certain sleep profile and that particular profile appears quite clearly linked with increased tendency of family members suffering from depression. Medical researchers may have been closing in on learning about depression genetics simply by exploring sleep as a mode of what could be the underlying depressive disorder’s development.
There are two stages when it comes to sleep which are REM or rapid eye movement as well as non-REM. When the overall brain wave slowed down, it is classified as a non-REM stage. And this occurs in all 4 stages of sleep where the brain is most activated in stage 1 and the least in stage 4. Whereas in stages 3-4, we are actually in a deep sleep and is low wave. REM is a stage when the brain activity is akin to when that person is awake, but physically is still deeply asleep.
What the medical researchers discovered in the sleep profile is seen as a beginning to this rapid eye movement (REM) state and also a moving out in the slow wave sleep. Generally, there will be more REM sleep compared to the slower wave sleep and a faster slide into the stage of REM sleep. This medical breakthrough has allowed the researchers to decide that there’s a basic regulatory problem that is connected to the people’s susceptibility for depression.
Those related to people with depressive disorders and who experienced rapid REM onset are 4 times more prone to have rapid REM onset. With that, their risk of getting a depression can be almost twice compared to those relatives of other patients. The research findings also indicated that the rapid REM onset also signifies a greater risk of depression compared to having a depressed family member.
Many people do not know that they have this kind of sleep profile. It has nothing to do with frequent waking up during the night or feeling restless in the morning. Nevertheless, if these people have many family members suffering from depression, it may well be an indication that they are also having this sleep profile.