Am J Psychiatry 1985; 142:905-910
Copyright © 1985 by American Psychiatric Association
Extended sleep (hypersomnia) in young depressed patients
DR Hawkins, JM Taub and RL Van de Castle
To test the hypothesis that young depressed patients have prolonged rather
than shortened sleep, 14 depressed patients aged 17-25 and age- matched
normal control subjects were allowed to sleep as long as they wanted. All
subjects increased their sleep over baseline values, but the extended sleep
period of the depressed patients was almost twice as long as that of the
control subjects. The distribution of sleep stages in the extended period
did not differ. The depressed patients had changes in the length of REM
periods similar to those of older subjects. The findings suggest an
interaction between age, sleep, and depression.
