Sleep and Depression

There is a strong association between sleep and depression. Depressed patients often report sleep problems, including difficulty in initiation and maintenance of quality sleep. There are both subjective and objective changes in sleep pattern during depressed states. Together, these symptoms cause enormous distress and adversely impact the quality of life of the patients. Sleep problems often appear before depression symptoms and subjective sleep quality worsens before the onset of an episode. Insomnia is considered a key symptom of depression and could be the primary reason the depressed one seeks medical help. Sleep disturbance, hence, should be successfully managed in depression, in order to improve the quality of life in these patients. This paper reviews the existing scientific literature to explore the association between sleep and depression.