Sleep: Chicken Soup for the Brain
Here’s a fatiguing fact: roughly 3 out of 5 Americans said that they hardly ever wake up feeling rested. Considering sleep is so integral to a healthy functioning of our body and mind, that statistic is mind-boggling! During sleep, our brains conduct important tasks that influence our mind and body’s functioning the next day. Not getting enough sleep means your brain doesn’t have enough time to do what it does best, which can lead to a number of physical health issues such as increasing risk of common infections like the cold and flu, but also of things like heart disease, stroke, and obesity. And those are just how you could be physically affected by a lack of sleep. In terms of your mental health, not getting enough sleep each night can affect your decision-making and problem solving abilities, as well as your ability to control your emotions and how you respond to other people, and how you react to change. Consistently not getting enough sleep can even lead to things like depression, anxiety and suicidal ideation, as well as other mental health conditions.
When you have mental health conditions like depression and anxiety, you also might find it harder to get as much sleep as you should be. Both of these could lead to issues falling and/or staying asleep as well as a lack in the quality of sleep you receive. It’s a vicious cycle, but there is a light on the horizon! There are a number of things that you can do to try to improve how much sleep you get and the quality of said sleep. Things like meditation and mindfulness are a great place to start if you find yourself having a hard time settling down, using a white noise machine is also an option (and a personal favorite!), as is using ear plugs or even blue light blockers.
One of the best things you can do to experience better sleep, however, is by having a consistent sleep routine or schedule to help remind your brain that it’s time to go to bed. Sleep hygiene, as it’s called, is vital to sleeping well and waking up restful. If you are experiencing insomnia and none of these things seem to work, you can also go see a therapist who is experienced in cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia (CBT-I), or even more generally focused CBT. Whatever you may need to experience better sleep, there are options for you!
Ayanna Schubert
Birch Psychology
Resources
https://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/sleep-deprivation/health-effects
https://sph.umich.edu/pursuit/2020posts/why-sleep-is-so-important-to-your-health.html
https://www.columbiapsychiatry.org/news/how-sleep-deprivation-affects-your-mental-health
