In honor of National Sleep Awareness Week, we asked Virginia, one of our amazing clinicians, to share strategies on how to get the best sleep to help our mental health!
How does Sleep Impact Mental Health?
In our culture of capitalism and individualism, we often celebrate individuals who sacrifice sufficient sleep in order to get the job done. Famous business leaders regularly brag about getting less than the recommended 8 hours of sleep and credit their workaholic lifestyle as to why they have been successful in their careers.
However, studies show that lack of sleep not only hurts our GDP, but exponentially worsens our emotional and behavioral health. Many mental health diagnoses list sleep disturbances as symptoms and 50-80% of patients in behavioral health settings report chronic sleep impairments, as opposed to 10-18% in the general population.
Often, the relationship between mental health and sleep is bi-directional, with depressed patients reporting insomnia and insomniacs reporting higher rates of depression. Insomniacs also report increased suicidal ideation and patients with insomnia are 2-4 times more likely to remain depressed even when the depression is treated with evidence-based clinical care. All of this can be scary to the average American adult, who 1 in 3 of us are chronically sleep deprived, per the CDC. There are simple tools and tricks one can adhere to in order to increase the likelihood of having a good night’s rest.
Best Sleep Tips & Tricks:
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Use your bed ONLY for sleep:
- When we use our beds for other activities, our beds begin to symbolize sleep incongruent behaviors and we start to struggle with sleep.
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If you are in bed and awake for more than 10-20 minutes, get out of bed and go to another room:
- Try doing a somewhat boring activity such as watching CSPAN/The Weather Channel/Informercials, organizing or decluttering something around the house, creating a shopping or to-do list, or reading light materials, like magazines or nonfiction books.
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Maintain a consistent wake time 7 days a week:
- Sleep in no later than a half hour past your normal wake time, even on weekends.
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Avoid napping:
- If you must nap, sleep for only 15-30 minutes and try to nap 7-9 hours after wake-up time.
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Avoid alcohol, caffeine, nicotine, and chocolate
- no less than 3 hours before bed time
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Do not have a clock in your bedroom that is visible from the bed:
- This can cause counting down until wake time instead of relaxing and sleeping.
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Limit screen time 1 hour before bed:
- Try reading or journaling instead of watching TV or scrolling on your phone
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Get regular exercise:
- You do not need to be a body builder or marathon runner, but incorporating joyful movement into your day helps your body maintain its circadian rhythm.
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Use your bed ONLY for sleep:
- When we use our beds for other activities, our beds begin to symbolize sleep incongruent behaviors and we start to struggle with sleep.
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Adjust your bedroom environment:
- You do not need to be a body builder or marathon runner, but incorporating joyful movement into your day helps your body maintain its circadian rhythm.The ideal room temperature for sleep is 65 degrees F and the darker the room, the better.
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Develop a relaxing bedtime routine:
- This looks different for everyone but having a calm, predictable routine helps signal to our brains that it is time for sleep.
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Deal with your worries before bed:
- Create a to-do list for tomorrow before bed or set a “worry timer” where you allow yourself to worry without judgment for a period of time.
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For chronic pain or a physical health condition that interferes with sleep
- talk with your doctor or specialist to develop strategies to maximize efficient sleep.
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Do not “try” to sleep:
- You cannot make yourself sleep but you can set the stage for sleep to occur naturally.
If you try these tips and ideas and you are still struggling with sleep, talk with your doctor about completing a sleep study. You may have a sleep disorder that can be easily dealt with that you may not know about.
Article author: Virginia Suarez, Canvas Health School-Based Therapist
