Bipolar Disorder and Sleep
...here is a risk of children getting bipolar disorder if a parent has it and a greater risk when both do because there seems to be a genetic link. Now more recent studies show that sleep plays a role in bipolar disorder. The sleeping patterns of one with bipolar disorder are different from those without it. The rise in the cases of bipolar disorder is blamed partly on the creation of artificial lighting. There were less cases when humans went by the sleep cycle the sun provided for them. But now that we have the means to stay up later and go against our built in sleep clocks. This is called social rhythm disruption, some disturbance in the routine affecting the sleeping waking cycle. Even something as simple as staying up late to watch TV, work, have a long conversation, are considered disruptions. If one continues to lose sleep and goes in to mania, it can lead to parasomnia, the feeling of less need for sleep. Insomnia, the inability to fall asleep, and hypersomnia, the act of sleeping for many hours on end, are also symptoms of social rhythm disruptio...