How Sleep Affects Mental Health

Experts recommend 7-9 hours of sleep every night. That means about 33% of your life should be spent sleeping, but what makes sleep so important?

We’ve all experienced those days that feel like a drag. We get up, get to work, and just wait till we can go home and go to sleep. Sometimes it’s easy to notice the connection between sleep, mental health, and the difficulty of getting good sleep. However, It’s sometimes hard to understand.

In this article we’ll discuss:

• The importance of sleep
• What lack of sleep causes
• What sleep deprivation is
• How to get help for sleep issues

How Important is Sleep?

Sleep is equally as important to your health as food and exercise. While you sleep, your body and brain do several things including:

• Reorganize and store memories
• Repair cells
• Release tensions
• Manage and regulate hormone levels

Good sleep promotes attention, creativity, problem-solving, confidence, and mental health. That’s because your brain and body desperately need time to rest and repair. You are not built to operate on little to no sleep.

What Does Good Sleep Look Like?

Have you ever woken up and immediately felt like you didn’t get enough sleep? You may have even gotten the recommended eight hours, but the truth is the amount of sleep you get is only half the battle.

Sleep quality is a major factor in how helpful your time sleeping is.

While you sleep, you go through cycles of brain activity. After falling asleep, you enter light sleep, which is the least helpful kind of sleep. After some time, you enter deep sleep and REM sleep (rapid eye movement).

REM sleep is the most important time of the sleep cycle because that’s when the brain is working to repair and relax. Coincidentally, it’s also the hardest to get to. When we talk about good sleep we mean getting a healthy amount of uninterrupted REM sleep.

In fact, REM sleep is responsible for processing information and committing memories to long-term storage. That's why it's an important factor in eye-movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR) trauma therapy.

Read our full guide on EMDR to learn how it works.

How Does Lack of Sleep Affect Your Mental Health?

Good sleep and mental health are intrinsically connected. If you don’t get good quality sleep, then your mental health may be affected. That’s because sleep is necessary for your brain and body to process information and emotions, and refresh your mind for the day ahead.

When you don’t get enough sleep, your mental health can take a hit since you won’t be equipped to handle or process information.

How Does Mental Health Affect Your Sleep?

The issue of poor sleep is cyclical. Stress, depression, and anxiety can be caused by poor sleep, but they can also cause sleep problems. Intrusive thoughts, and cortisol levels can keep a person from getting restful sleep. In turn, this lack of quality sleep can exacerbate symptoms of anxiety, depression, and stress.

If anxiety is causing sleep deprivation in your life, you can find help by attending anxiety counseling. While finding ways to manage your anxiety while in counseling, your sleep quality will improve.

Related Articles: What is Morning Anxiety?

What is Sleep Deprivation?

Sleep deprivation occurs when someone doesn’t get enough sleep. This could be a one-time occurrence, something that lasts a week, or be a chronic issue. Sleep deprivation and mental health issues are related. If you experience one, you’ll likely experience the other.

Effects of Sleep Deprivation

Not getting enough sleep can lead to several issues including:

• Poor focus
• Memory issues
• Taking longer on tasks 
• Brain fog
• Physical pain 
• Headaches
• Irritability
• Anxiety
• Stress
• Depression
• In extreme cases, psychosis

This is not a complete list. There are a lot of negatives to not getting enough sleep.

What Causes Sleep Deprivation?

Good sleep is not easy to come by. There are a lot of things stopping people from getting quality sleep. Obstacles to good sleep include:

• Caffeine
• Children
• Phone usage
• Noise
• Light pollution
• Working odd hours
• Sleep-related disorders
• Anxiety
• Stress
• Depression

No matter the cause of sleep deprivation, the effects on a person’s mental health are the same.

Treating Sleep Issues How to Treat Sleep Issues

Sleep deprivation and all that it causes can be treated. However, it can be hard to know what kind of treatment is needed and how to proceed.

At Home Remedies

There are plenty of at-home remedies you can try to improve your sleep quality.

• Avoid stimulants: Caffeine, alcohol, and nicotine can all affect your sleep hygiene. Staying away from stimulants can help increase your chances of getting to sleep on time.
• Exercise: Regular movement is known to improve sleep. You don’t need to become a gym buff, but an evening walk or movement throughout the day will help you be ready for bed by the end of the day.
• Don’t use your phone in the evening: The blue light from your phone has a similar effect on your sleep-wake triggers in your brain to the sun. It will keep your mind engaged and you could end up doom scrolling.

If your sleep issues are causing mental health issues these remedies and practices can improve your sleep hygiene. However, if mental health issues are interfering with your sleep, you may want to take a different approach. 

Practice Mindfulness

Improving your mental health will improve your sleep health, and one way to do that is to implement mindfulness practices.

Mindfulness practices are exercises, or disciplines, that can be used to improve cognitive elasticity, focus, and reduce stress. There are several ways you can improve your mindfulness including:

• Journaling
• Mindful movement including walking
• Yoga
• Body scan
• Breathing exercises

Using each of these exercises requires you to stop and think about current sensations and thoughts. However, most of them can be used anywhere and anytime. 

Seeking Treatment for Sleep Problems

Some sleep issues will only last for a time. However, when they become persistent problems that cause issues in your daily life, it’s not a bad idea to find professional help.

A good place to start looking for treatment is with your general care doctor. They should have resources to guide you and may give you supplements or prescriptions to improve your sleep quality. 

Attending Counseling

Attending general mental health counseling will help you deal with any stressors that are causing poor sleep habits. 

When you attend mental health counseling you’ll have a place to process difficult emotions, learn new coping skills, and improve your overall mental health. 

At Inner Balance Counseling, our clients aren’t numbers. They’re people who receive support and tools that improve their lives. We offer both in-person and online counseling and therapy services that are designed for a person’s individual needs. 

Request a consultation to start the process of getting help.