Insomnia
While insomnia is a common symptom of depression, antidepressants are effective for treating sleep problems whether or not they are associated with depression. While all antidepressants help regulate sleep, some antidepressants such as amitriptyline, doxepin, mirtazapine, and trazodone can have an immediate sedative effect, and are prescribed to treat insomnia. Amitriptyline and doxepin both have antihistaminergic, anticholinergic, and antiadrenergic properties, which contribute to both their therapeutic effects and side effect profiles, while mirtazapine's side effects are primarily antihistaminergic, and trazodone's side-effects are primarily antiadrenergic. Mirtazapine is known to decrease sleep latency (i.e., the time it takes to fall asleep), promoting sleep efficiency and increasing the total amount of sleeping time in people with both depression and insomnia.
Effects of sleep deprivation on college students
In one study, a revised type of cognitive behavioral for treating insomnia was sent to participating students by email. The email contained an attachment addressing several aspects of sleep, such as techniques for relaxation and methods to stabilize the circadian rhythm. This method was compared to another program called Breathe which was created in order to reduce symptoms of depression and to cope with high stress. Participants in the Breathe program showed improvements in sleep quality and a decrease in depressive symptoms.While this study only had a small number of participants, the final results showed hope as an effective method that can help with sleep deprivation for college students.