專家表示，緩解抑郁癥竟然是少睡覺？！

An analysis of 36 years of studies by the University of Pennsylvania suggests temporarily depriving patients of sleep can be effective in the short-term.

賓夕法尼亞大學(xué)實(shí)施了一項(xiàng)歷時(shí)36年的試驗(yàn)，得出的結(jié)論顯示減少抑郁癥患者的睡眠時(shí)間在短期內(nèi)可緩解抑郁癥。

Their research, published in the Journal of Clinical Psychiatry, looked at 66 studies on people with depression who were deprived of sleep in a clinical setting.

這項(xiàng)研究發(fā)表在《臨床精神醫(yī)學(xué)雜志》(Journal of Clinical Psychiatry)上，共進(jìn)行了66次，研究對(duì)象為抑郁癥患者，實(shí)驗(yàn)在臨床條件下控制了患者的睡眠時(shí)間。

Sleep deprivation was found to temporarily improve symptoms in 50 per cent of patients. The review also found that partial sleep deprivation (three to four hours' sleep, followed by 20 to 21 hours of staying awake) and total sleep deprivation (being deprived of sleep for 36 hours) were equally effective.

減少睡眠時(shí)間在短期內(nèi)緩解了一半患者的病情。將睡眠時(shí)間減少到3到4小時(shí)(其余20到21小時(shí)都是清醒的)，和讓患者在36小時(shí)內(nèi)保持清醒的效果相同。

The results were the same whether or not the participants were also taking medication. Patients reported improvement in as little as 24 hours.

患者有無服藥都不會(huì)影響實(shí)驗(yàn)。但是療效只持續(xù)了24小時(shí)。

The idea that depression can be helped by sleep deprivation has a long history.

減少睡眠時(shí)間能夠緩解抑郁癥的方法并不是最近才發(fā)現(xiàn)的。

Nearly 200 years ago, a German psychiatrist, Johann Christian August Heinroth, successfully experimented with it as a treatment for what he described as 'melancholia', while 'wake therapy' — a combination of long periods of wakefulness interjected with long recovery 'sleeps' — is a technique used by some U.S. psychiatrists and sleep doctors to help treat chronic depression.

大概兩百年前，德國(guó)一位名叫約翰·克瑞斯宸·阿古斯特·赫恩瑞斯的精神科醫(yī)生就成功做了實(shí)驗(yàn)，證明抑郁癥可以通過減少睡眠時(shí)間得以治療。而美國(guó)眾多精神科醫(yī)生使用的是“清醒治療法”，讓患者保持長(zhǎng)時(shí)間的清醒后進(jìn)行長(zhǎng)時(shí)間的修復(fù)睡眠，以此來治療慢性抑郁癥。

However, the researchers involved in the latest study say that it is a temporary solution and more work needs to be done to identify exactly how sleep deprivation helps depression.

但是，最近的實(shí)驗(yàn)發(fā)現(xiàn)，這種方法只是短暫性的，要弄明白睡眠缺失是如何緩解抑郁癥還需要很多工作。

One theory is that people with depression have disturbed circadian rhythms — the body's 'internal clock' — and skipping a sleep cycle can reset this and temporarily relieve symptoms.

有種說法是抑郁癥患者的生物鐘混亂，長(zhǎng)時(shí)間保持清醒可調(diào)整生物鐘，暫時(shí)緩解病癥。.

Commenting on the research, Dr Nik Gkampranis, a consultant psychiatrist and sleep specialist at Spire Healthcare, says: ‘Many people with depression have more REM sleep — where your brain is more active and you tend to dream vividly — than those without the condition.

精神科咨詢師、睡眠專家尼克·科姆比瑞恩醫(yī)生在尖端醫(yī)療中心(Spire Healthcare)對(duì)這項(xiàng)實(shí)驗(yàn)做出了評(píng)價(jià)：“很多抑郁癥患者夜間做夢(mèng)時(shí)眼睛會(huì)快速移動(dòng)，這說明他們的大腦比非抑郁癥患者更加活躍、做夢(mèng)更頻繁。

‘Evidence also suggests that this is only a temporary fix, so if it is implemented as a therapy, I’d advise it to be used in conjunction with other treatments, for example antidepressants or CBT (cognitive behavioural therapy).’

實(shí)驗(yàn)也表明這種治療方法不具有長(zhǎng)期效果，如果要落實(shí)這種方法，我建議同時(shí)使用其他方法，比如服用抗抑郁藥、進(jìn)行意識(shí)行為治療。”