Adequate sleep and good mental health are closely connected. At Highland Hospital Behavioral Health in Charleston, West Virginia, we think it’s important for people to understand the importance of sleep for their mental well-being.
Common Sleep Disturbances
Not only do we need to get enough hours of sleep, but our brains need to experience the full cycle of sleep stages. Some of the ways this can be disrupted include:
- Sleep apnea: When a person momentarily, but repeatedly stops breathing while asleep
- Insomnia: Inability to fall asleep
- Restless leg syndrome: A neurological condition that causes an irresistible need to move legs, which can also involve itching, pulling or crawling sensations
- Disruptions to a person’s circadian rhythm: This is one possible factor in Seasonal affective disorder (SAD) and is also common among people who work overnight or rotating schedules
- Narcolepsy and excessive daytime drowsiness
- Nightmares
- Sleepwalking
Increasing Your Risk of Mental Illness
If you’ve ever had to get through a day while sleep-deprived, you already know the short-term outcomes of insufficient sleep. Regularly forgoing a full night of restful sleep can also have long-term consequences for your mental health, such as increased symptoms associated with anxiety or depression.
Being chronically low on sleep can also increase your risk for medical symptoms that are linked to heightened mental health struggles, such as:
- Obesity: The hormones that tell your body when you’re hungry or full work best when you are well-rested
- Heart problems: Sleep allows your body to heal and repair your heart and blood vessels
- Diabetes: Not getting enough sleep can increase your blood sugar levels by changing how your body responds to insulin
- Poor immune system response: Sleep issues can lead to a state of chronic inflammation, which your body will direct resources to addressing, decreasing its ability to respond to illness
A Sign of Mental Illness
Not only can sleep issues lead to increased mental health symptoms, but they can also be a sign of a mental health disorder:
- Waking up especially early can signal depression in a person who is also experiencing a low mood, fatigue, and appetite changes
- People with bipolar disorder may find that they don’t need as much sleep while experiencing mania
- Anxiety disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) can cause people to have panic attacks, nightmares, or trouble falling asleep
How to Know If Your Sleep Is Sufficient
Each person’s needs for sleep are unique, but you can be sure that you’re not getting enough good-quality sleep if:
- You don’t feel refreshed and alert when you wake up
- You have difficulty focusing
- You are uncharacteristically grouchy, impulsive, moody, or unmotivated
- You doze off while watching TV, reading a book, riding in a car, sitting in a class or meeting, talking to someone, or sitting in traffic
Ways to Improve Your Sleep
As you’re lying awake in bed, you might feel pretty helpless in correcting a sleep disturbance, but there are things you can do from the moment you wake up that will increase your chances of getting better sleep that night:
- Wake up at the same time each day, even on weekends and holidays
- Get some sunshine early in the day to help regulate your circadian rhythm. If you can’t get outside, open the curtains and sit near the window or use a lightbox to replicate sunlight
- Exercise regularly and do it early in the day
- Try to avoid naps or at least keep them short and early in the day
- Restrict use of your bed to sleep and sex to help your brain make the connection that it’s time to go to sleep when you lie down
- Avoid heavy meals, alcohol and caffeine late in the day
- Turn off screens and bright lights a couple of hours before bedtime
- Have a bedtime routine that you follow at night, such as a warm bath, reading a book or meditation, to help your brain transition to sleep
- Set your phone to “do not disturb” before bed
- If your pets tend to wake you up, keep them out of your bedroom
- Try deep breathing and muscle relaxation to help calm your brain
- Talk to your doctor about any medications you are taking that could be interfering with your sleep, including over-the-counter medications
- Consider cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) to address any negative thoughts or worries that are keeping you awake at night
- Ensure that your sleeping area is cool, dark, and quiet
- Go to bed at the same time every night
At Highland Hospital Behavioral Health, we treat behavioral health disorders, many of which can come with sleep disturbances. We work with our patients to create individualized treatment plans to address their unique needs, so they can regain quality of life.
