Mental Health sleep deprivation + coffee = best antidepressant

[falsifiedhypothesi]

right now I'm on a shit ton of coffee and 20 hours of no sleep. these two things alone are not very pleasant but together they make me feel normal, balanced, not fucked up.

coffee alone will lift my depression slightly for an hour but then I just get the shakes. this combo brings me the closest to normal I've been in a while and is the only time I can and want to get things done.

why is this? I read somewhere that sleep depravation increases dopamine levels, but I can't seem to find the article again. so again why is this?

 

[Mycophile]

I don't know dude, but I'm going to tell you straight up that for someone like me with depression and anxiety that sounds like the WORST possible antidepressent and even worse for anxiety.

Sleep deprivation is the worst thing imaginable for my anxiety, and too much coffee is also really bad for my anxiety so combine the two and it's a NIGHTMARE.

Maybe your depression is different, but for HR's sake (or sanity's sake) I suggest anyone with anxiety or depression take this with a LARGE grain of salt.

Depriving yourself of sleep and using caffeine to counter it sounds like a nightmare waiting to happen for ANYONE let alone those with these issues.

Talk about increasing cortisol/stress hormones...

Even if it works in the short term it's only a matter of time before you crash and crash HARD and that's not going to feel good...


I actually suggest the EXACT opposite: as much natural sleep as possible and as little caffeine as possible.

That's what I'm trying for at least.

 

[falsifiedhypothesi]

I get plenty of sleep, at least 10 hours a day. As much natural sleep as possible is terrible advice. you should get between 6 and 8 hours, but unfortunately for me it's either 10 to 14 hours or none. I don't have much general anxiety, it's mostly social anxiety. My physical anxiety right now is somewhat high but my mental anxiety is normal, if not reduced.

I do feel somewhat scatterbrained when I do this. I'm not as sharp as I could be but I get things done and that's more important for me right now. I'm also looking forward to the crash because I'll probably be able to get to sleep earlier. I guess I'm just fucking crazy.

 

[Mycophile]

I get plenty of sleep, at least 10 hours a day. As much natural sleep as possible is terrible advice. you should get between 6 and 8 hours, but unfortunately for me it's either 10 to 14 hours or none. I don't have much general anxiety, it's mostly social anxiety. My physical anxiety right now is somewhat high but my mental anxiety is normal, if not reduced.

I do feel somewhat scatterbrained when I do this. I'm not as sharp as I could be but I get things done and that's more important for me right now. I'm also looking forward to the crash because I'll probably be able to get to sleep earlier. I guess I'm just fucking crazy.

That's what they are saying right NOW, but who knows if it's true or the evidence supporting it will change.

Anyways, I really meant about 8 hours a night, I just meant that it should be natural sleep, not influenced by substances, which mine usually is.

 

[bees_knees]

Yeah I used to notice when I stayed up all night playing computer games as a teenager (man I wasted my youth) that by sunrise I felt fucking awesome.