Why depressed people sleep so much / mood journals

[IPlay]

Because you can't be sad when you're asleep.

I've been keeping a mood journal where I rate my mood out of 10 each day for both morning and night. I realise I've cheated the system when I get up at 10 or 11am.

On mood journals themselves I have found it to be a good indicator over time to help understand your individual patterns. It is good for personal use but would be cautious if presenting it to a professional or another person as the scales are completely subjective. I've been trying to find a comparison of 0-10 daily mood charts of a person with and a person without depression but since a mood rating is so subjective it's hard to draw comparisons.

What I mean by subjective is that a 5 for me means - a non-mood, blank face feeling, absents of happy or sad feelings/thoughts, no intrusive thoughts, and sometimes it means I just slept through most of the morning. Whereas, and I speculate, someone without depression might place a 5 as meaning - content, flat, okay.

A better example might be that someone with depressions reasons for rating between 0-5 includes suicidal thoughts or even attempts whereas a non-depressed person it does not.

My average for this month is 6. Max 8. Min 0. - My 8's would be very good you would think, which they are... compared to my usual mood. - Brief moments of a smile, singing in he kitchen, dancing with my dog. But an 8 I have realised is still just a glimpse of my old self before depression. The 0 was that one night I got drunk and had heavy intrusive thoughts and crying almost to the point of action.

What's your experience with mood journals if you keep one, or your thoughts on it even if you don't?

What's your thoughts on sleep?

[demonblaster]

IPlay hi there and all ☺

Hey I'm coming back to read and chat.

I'm interested in anything to do with sleep it's vital for both physical and mental well being.

Thanks for a good topic.

Catch you later 👋

[Helen72]

Hi IPlay,

Sleep is essential but hard for some.

I think there's good reasons why sleep deprivation is listed as torture under the Geneva Convention. Deprivation is awful - it usually doesn't have the plus of a baby 😉

Helen

[Gambit87]

I don't do mood journals, don't know why, just something that doesn't click with me.

I'm a big supporter of getting a good nights sleep, I believe it plays a huge role in mental health.

They say you need an average of 8 hours of sleep a night, but I can only get 6 at most. Of that 6 hours I used to wake up 5/6 times a night. I've implemented a bit of a 'before bed' schedule to relax me before bed.

I try to eat dinner at around 7ish and I try to keep it on the small portion size. If I over eat especially meaty/faty things I tend to get heart burn and generate alot of body heat (good for winter haha) and i sleep terribly. At 9:30 my phone goes into nightscreen mode and I try to look at at as little as possible. I put on a light show (brooklyn 99/parks and rec etc) or a movie and make a cup of peppermint tea and just zone out.

90% of the time im relaxed enough to fall asleep within 10/20 minutes. I generally only wake up once a night. If i get a terrible night sleep, I forgive myself and tell myself theres always tonight.

ive also done a bit of research into sleep hygiene to help things along aswell.

[Orson]

What is amazing about mood journals is looking at them after you're better and scratching your head and thinking "Whoa. I was so down". They also tend to track your dreams and goals quite well and ten years later you go "Oh. I forgot I used to want that", or "Wow. Done that one." They are an essential for me when I find myself on the other side of sane...trapped in the gloom. Back in 2002, I ended up with over ten full mood journals before I got better. I chucked them in a wheelie bin, so nobody (including myself) would read them again. They are a great way of unravelling your woes.

[demonblaster]

Hi Iplay and everyone.

Also welcome to the forums Orson ☺ thanks for a very good post

That includes you Iplay and all replies have good comments

It's interesting what you said about mood journals. I think they're a good idea

I don't as a rule do them but have at times written detailed notes. Reading back is quite hard to read at times knowing that pain that returns so often but nice knowing it does pass too.

I think anything that gives an out for stress pain & discomfort has to have some benefits. If we hold it all in eventually it balloons out with other issues often mh or anger deeper depression anxiety etc.

Sleep's so important for our mh. Without enough we're weaker. With enough we're at our strongest.

I think with lack of our walls drop and we become vulnerable.

It helps if we don't follow our first thought & to try to challenge a thought with more possibilities reasons for an action comment or thought.

Tiredness enhances our emotions.

Take care everyone and thanks for a good topic.

You also might be interested in a very good thread called "Sleep" if you do a search in the bar at top Right.

Cyaz ☺

[quirkywords]

Iplay welcome and thanks for this thread.

think because I am a poor sleeper as I have to get up many times at night it makes me tired and rundown so maybe I am the exception for the rule.

have used mood journals to see patterns but then I get out of the routine.

If mood journals work use them especially so they can show a pattern of behaviour.