Sleep estimation in depressed men and women

The subjective estimation of sleep and its alteration after positive and negative life events and after night sleep loss have been investigated in 43 depressed patients (22 women and 21 men) and in 31 healthy subjects (10 men and 21 women).- Depressed patients, both men and women, in comparison to the control group, complain more often of the increased sleep latency, of the increased number of awakenings, of unpleasant dreams, of sleeping worse after the sleepless night, and of difficulties to go to sleep during the day. - In addition, depressed men, in comparison to healthy men, complain of more dreams, their mood is relatively higher in the evening, after the negative experience the number of awakenings and sleep latency increase and the number of dreams decreases. Depressed men denied the ability to go to sleep during the day. In depressed women after the day sleep mood does not change while in healthy women it improves. Finally, night sleep of healthy women is more sensitive to emotional experience which happened in the daytime in comparison to healthy men. Thus, the difference between depressed and healthy women according to this variable is less prominent than the difference between depressed and healthy men.