Is depression a big cause of insomnia?

This question was asked in Irvine, California on 01/18/2012.
Is it true that depression can be one of the main factors of insomnia? I have been diagnosed with bipolar disorder and have trouble sleeping, but I don't know what the main cause is.

Doctors Answers (1)

Richard J. Schumann Jr., MD

Depressed patients complain of insomnia in 90% of cases at some point.  Early morning awakenings are seen in unipolar depression and hyper somnia (over sleepiness) is seen in Bipolar depression most commonly.  50% of sleep studies perfomred on patients with depression show abnormalities including increase sleep onset latency and decreased overall REM sleep and slow wave (deep sleep) and fatigue.