Good Mental Health Ends in the Bedroom

Nobody needs reminding that a lack of sleep can really affect the trajectory of one’s day. Sleep is vital for the human body to be able to sustainably flourish. Facilitating healthy sleep habits is extremely impactful on mood, energy, brain performance, behavior, and more. Good mental health ends in the bedroom! 

Whether you feel like you “woke up on the wrong side of the bed” or just didn’t get enough quality rest, those days where you didn’t get enough sleep are much more difficult to get through. And there are countless reasons why this is the case, as well as exactly how it affects us.

Doom scrolling on social media, noisy construction outside the home, nervousness about giving a presentation at work or school the next morning, a baby or perhaps a new pet that doesn’t have the same sleep pattern as the rest of the family, maybe even a mental illness that disrupts sleep cycles… The list goes on, and everyone has found one reason or another to blame for keeping them up at night.

Americans are quite notorious for not getting enough sleep, with more than a third of our adults not getting the recommended seven or more hours of sleep per night. We’ve all found ourselves in situations where we are sleep deprived, thus we know how it makes us feel. But how does sleep actually affect the state of our mental health?

What happens when you sleep

Let’s start by discussing how sleep affects the whole body. Looking at mental health and wellness through a holistic lens allows the full measure of understanding the nuance and complexity of how our bodies function. Acknowledging how the various systems in our body correlate and affect each other, especially in the context of mental health, is deeply beneficial.

Essentially, while we sleep, we go through several sleep cycles, each about 90 minutes long. There are two initial phases of lighter sleep, where your muscles begin to relax, your body temperature drops, your heart rate decreases, and your breathing slows.

Next comes deep sleep, when the body fully relaxes and starts repairing itself from the inside out (more on this below). Finally comes REM sleep (Rapid Eye Movement), when the brain works to store memories and regulate mood. This is also when we typically dream. Good quality sleep depends on consistently cycling through these four levels of sleep, and ideally you need between four and six sleep cycles every day to feel refreshed and rested.

Sleep plays a very important role in good health and well-being in life, and nothing can replace it. How you feel whenever you’re awake is directly dependent on what happens while you’re asleep. While sleeping, the human body works to support healthy brain functionings while also maintaining your physical health. 

The body never fully shuts down, but during sleep, many healthy maintenance rhythms occur. The heart and circulatory system rest in between REM cycles, hormones are dispensed in the body for proper functioning, your metabolism maintains its cycle, the respiratory system is allowed to relax and refresh, the immune system fights off infections, and the brain forms and stores long-term memories. 

This is just scratching the surface of why sleep is vital to our overall health. Taking it further, the detrimental effects of not getting enough sleep are alarming to consider.

Lack of sleep has been shown to accelerate the severity of age-related chronic disorders. For example, those getting less than five hours of sleep per night have a 58% increase in the risk of diabetes and a 48% increase in the risk of obesity as compared to those getting between seven and eight hours. The risk of heart disease, stroke, and dementia are also amplified when not enough quality sleep is regularly experienced.

The brain is very active during sleep, as it works hard during times of deep rest to generate better thinking, learning, and memory. Sleep allows the brain to process emotional information as it stores our thoughts and memories. As cognitive neuroscience reveals, these brain activities are crucial to our mental and emotional well-being, so it’s no wonder sleep is vital to our mental health.

Sleep and mental health 

While research is continuously being performed to further understand the full extent of the effects of sleep on mental health, it is definitely apparent that a correlation exists. The current consensus is leaning towards the notion that sleeping problems are both a cause and consequence of mental health problems.

Think of it like a cyclical loop of sleep loss due to mental health concerns, which causes more sleep loss, and so on and so forth. And the flip side is true, too, as improved sleep hygiene promotes better mental health, which leads to better sleep, etc.

For instance, one in five people with depression have some form of sleep apnea, which is a disorder that affects breathing while sleeping and can greatly disrupt sleep quality and length. Furthermore, one in five people with sleep apnea have some form of depression. The intertwined cyclical nature of sleep and mental health are so intricately linked. 

It’s not just a lack of sleep that is detrimental, though. Sleeping too much or too little disrupts our bodies’ natural circadian rhythms, which can lead to both depression and seasonal affective disorder. Poor sleep worsens depression, which then further interrupts sleep, causing more dips in mental health. See how the cycle really is so impactful on our mental health and wellness?

Sleeping problems are also common in people with ADHD. Difficulty falling and/or staying asleep and excessive daytime sleepiness are often cited symptoms of ADHD. Sleep problems can aggravate symptoms such as reduced attention span and behavior management problems. Again, the cycle is present. Thus, breaking the cycle is paramount to help regulate mental health.

Mood, behavior, and social interaction are also affected by sleep. Interestingly, greater sleep consistency in U.S. Army soldiers predicted less homesickness, more positive social networks, and greater workplace resilience, which are all signals of psychological well-being. In another study, sleep loss was also shown to lead to the withdrawal of choosing to help others. In other words, sleep more to be less selfish.

Irritability, mood swings, behavior changes, increased stress, and brain fog are all signs of lack of sleep. If you are experiencing any of these symptoms, chat with your trusted medical care team to see if you need to make changes to your sleep schedule.

Studies show that, on average, improving sleep quality has a positive effect on mental health, including reduced depression, anxiety, and stress. Better sleep was also shown to boost mental health, regardless of the severity of the mental health disorder. One great way to get better sleep in today’s digitally-dependent world is by not staring at screens before sleeping!

Screen time before sleep time is detrimental

We talk a lot about replacing screen time with green time to boost mental health. Of equal importance is limiting screen time in the hours leading up to bedtime. While technology such as wearable and smartphone sensors, and other novel circadian biomarkers do show promise in helping us fully track and understand the correlation between sleep, circadian rhythms, and mental health, looking at screens before bed is not healthy. 

Children and adolescents who spent more time looking at digital screens slept fewer hours and were more likely to get insufficient sleep. Studies show that two or more hours of screen time in the evening can seriously disrupt the melatonin surge our bodies naturally produce, which is needed in order to fall asleep. 

This all goes back to our natural biorhythms and sleep-wake cycles. The body’s circadian rhythm mostly takes cues from sunlight (another great reason to get outside in nature!). When it’s bright around us, the body produces cortisol, which is a hormone that makes you feel alert and awake. As daylight fades, the body starts releasing melatonin like we mentioned before. 

However, technology and devices with screens produce bright blue light, which our body perceives similarly to natural sunlight. Obviously, this greatly hinders the sleep cycle as our body doesn’t start naturally producing the proper amounts of melatonin needed to fall and stay asleep. 

The best way to bypass the effects of blue light is by omitting computers, smartphones, TVs, and video games in the hours leading up to bedtime. Opt for dimming the lights, reading a book (with actual pages!), journaling, and/or listening to relaxing music or a podcast instead. 

Good mental health ends in the bedroom, and that means mindfully utilizing the space you sleep in. Really, the bedroom should be used for just two things: sleep/relaxation and sex. Don’t eat, play games, watch TV, work/study, etc. Create your sacred space of solitude and peacefulness that promotes healthy rest. 

Tips to improve sleep habits

Practicing mindfulness in relation to sleep means setting yourself up for good sleep hygiene. Everybody is unique, so there’s no one-size-fits-all approach to the perfect sleep habits. Always consult your doctor before making any drastic changes to your daily life and habits. 

Generally, though, we find it best to follow these tips for consistent quality sleep:

• • Maintaining a consistent sleep and wake schedule (yes, even on the weekends)

  • Getting the right amount of sleep – the CDC recommends between seven to nine hours of sleep for adults, eight to ten hours for teens, and just seven to eight hours for adults 65 and older.

  • Practicing mindfulness and relaxation before bed to wind down

  • Eating a nutritious, balanced diet helps, but don’t eat too close to bedtime

  • Limiting stimulants (caffeine, nicotine, etc.) and depressants (such as alcohol), especially in the hours leading up to bed time

  • Minimizing time spent looking at screens; remember, blue light kills sleep

  • Opting for time spent in natural light; a minimum of 30-minutes a day outside is a great start (especially early in the morning or after waking up)

  • Exercising regularly – even just going for a walk outside improves sleep – just try not to go close to bedtime

  • Creating a dark, cool, quiet atmosphere that’s conducive to restful, uninterrupted sleep

  • If you’re lying awake in bed, unable to fall asleep, get up and do something relaxing until you start to feel sleepy

Taking the time to prepare your mind and body to fall into deep sleep on a consistent basis will improve your mental health, and thus lead you into that cycle of better sleep causing/caused by better mental and emotional health.

To fully reintegrate mindfulness into our daily lives, we must take the time to consider how our body finds solace, rest, and best sleep practices. Simply Psych is committed to promoting inclusive and practical mindfulness so that all people can feel better together. Learn more at www.simplypsych.com today!