Monthly Archives: February 2017

What are depressive disorders? A depressive disorder is an illness that involves the body, mood, and thoughts. It affects the way a person eats and sleeps, the way one feels about oneself, and the way one thinks about things. A … Continue reading →

In any given 1-year period, 9.5 percent of the population, or about 18.8 million American adults, suffer from a depressive illness5 The economic cost for this disorder is high, but the cost in human suffering cannot be estimated. Depressive illnesses … Continue reading →

Agoraphobia is a form of anxiety disorder. The name is literally translated as “a fear of the marketplace”, from the Greek agora, and thus of open or public spaces. Many people suffering from agoraphobia, however, are not afraid of the … Continue reading →

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a debilitating condition that can develop following a terrifying event. Often, people with PTSD have persistent frightening thoughts and memories of their ordeal and feel emotionally numb, especially with people they were once close to. … Continue reading →

A look at polyphasic sleep patterns – naps throughout the day – and their impact on performance. st of us today adhere to a similar cycle of sleep. Staying awake through the day, we sleep through the night, when the absence … Continue reading →

Sleep is the process in which humans and other animals periodically rest, with greater or lesser degrees of unconsciousness and decreased responsiveness to the surrounding world. Sleep occurs cyclically, roughly every 24 hours even though the average human inner body … Continue reading →

The most common sleep disorders include: Bruxism: The sufferer involentarily grinds his or her teeth while sleeping   Delayed sleep phase syndrome (DSPS): a sleep disorder of circadian rhythm   Insomnia: Inability to fall asleep at will or at normal … Continue reading →

If you believe the evolutionary theory of sleep, you might be wondering why humans, not just non-human animals, still do it. There are famous examples of people being able to live on just a fraction of the sleep the rest … Continue reading →