
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, March 13, 1990                   TAG: 9003133191
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: The New York Times
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

STUDY: SLEEP TRIGGERS MOODS

Evidence that skipping a night's sleep lifts depression is leading scientists to search for a biochemical substance released during sleep that may bring on depression.

Missing a single night's sleep immediately halts depression in 59 percent of patients, according to a review of 61 studies involving more than 1,700 patients over the last 21 years.

The review, published in the January issue of The American Journal of Psychiatry, was done by Dr. Joseph C. Wu and Dr. William E. Bunney, psychiatrists at the University of California at Irvine.

The long-known benefit of sleep loss in depression has never been used as a treatment because as soon as the next night's sleep, the depression returns in full force. For many patients, the depression comes back if they take a short nap. And in 25 to 30 percent of depressed patients, missing a night's sleep induces a manic episode.

by CNB