Woman Says She Cured Depression By Staying Awake 36 Hours

For most of us, going 36 hours without sleeping sounds like hell on Earth. But for one woman, sleep deprivation may be just the thing to cure her battle with depression. After not doing well on antidepressants, Jaimey Gunton volunteered for a clinical trial where she’d be kept awake for 36 hours in the hope of “resetting” her brain by boosting her brain chemicals.

So, how did this work? Participants were forced to stay awake for 36 hours, supervised by an occupational therapist. After that, they were given four nights of eight hours’ sleep, advancing the time by two hours each night. Finally, patients would wear blue-light-blocking glasses two hours before bed to “trick” the brain into thinking it was time to go to bed. Things ended with bright light therapy, which they were instructed to use each morning for a half-hour over the course of the next six months.

Read the story at Daily Mail