Sleep and mental health are deeply connected. Dr. Theresa Miskimen explains how improving sleep quality can reduce anxiety, boost focus, and enhance overall resilience.
What is the relationship between sleep disorders and mental health?
The quality and quantity of sleep we get are crucial to both physical and mental health. There’s no way around that; sleep and mental health are intertwined, and good sleep supports mental health. Poor sleep can not only worsen existing mental health conditions but can even contribute to the development of psychiatric conditions. It’s definitely a big thing
What are some of the health concerns that are linked to a lack of sleep?
It can increase fatigue, decrease energy, and cause irritability. It can also contribute to difficulty focusing, trouble making decisions, and poor memory. Chronic sleep deprivation is actually associated with a higher risk of developing conditions such as heart disease and diabetes, and these conditions can eventually shorten your life expectancy. For those who have a mental health condition already, it can actually worsen depression and anxiety. Unfortunately, it can even increase the risk of suicide.
How does the timing of your sleep have an impact on mental health?
Some of us are night owls, and some are early birds, right? The issue arises when the demands of daily life, including your usual routine, do not allow people to actually act on that preference. If you’re a night owl, for example, but you have a morning job, you won’t be able to be a night owl and still be able to function.
At the end of the day, what is important is that, regardless of your preference, you follow a routine that is not going to interrupt your daily routine and will help you achieve the recommended number of hours of sleep per day. For most adults, 7-8 hours is the minimum amount of sleep that is needed. For children and teens, it’s 8 to 10 hours.
How can daily stress and anxiety affect your ability to sleep?
Daily stress really affects your ability to go to sleep, especially if your mind is racing. You’re going over what happened today and what you didn’t get around to doing, and it’s very hard to relax. It can be really difficult for you to get the recommended minimum hours when your mind is still active and stressed out about your daily routine.
What are some ways that people can ensure that they end up getting a good night’s sleep throughout the week?
The good news is that there absolutely are ways to improve sleep quality and quantity. The first thing is to identify and address the problem. When I talk to my patients, the first recommendation I have is what we call sleep hygiene techniques. It’s a list of rules on how to get to sleep and be able to sleep.
The first thing that I discuss with my patients is to try to keep a consistent schedule. Wake up around the same time every day, even on weekends. Let’s say that you wake up at 7:00 in the morning during the week. During the weekends, very often, people just sleep in until noon. That is very bad for your sleep. Then you’re going to have difficulty sleeping on Monday, Tuesday, maybe Wednesday. You’re already going to have a problem because you’re not waking up at the same time.
The other thing is your environment. Create a bedtime routine to enhance your sleep environment. For instance, you can keep your room cooler instead of hot. You can dim the lights and consider a warm bath. A big one is doom scrolling. Blue light from electronics interferes a lot with the brain, so it really affects your sleep.
Also, a lot of people say, “Oh, I’m going to have a drink to calm me down, and it will make me sleep better. Actually, while alcohol may make you drowsy, it will also make you wake up at two or three in the morning because of how it’s metabolized in your body. The consequence of having alcohol before you go to bed is that it disrupts your sleep architecture, just like caffeine and nicotine.
If you’re doing the sleep hygiene techniques for a few weeks and you can’t sleep — maybe you have daytime sedation, you can’t function — that’s the time when you should seek medical attention. Talk to your primary care doctor, and they can then determine whether it’s something that requires more formal therapy or medication. They can figure out if there’s anything else there.
