By this point, most of us know that sleep is an essential part of mental wellness. When you’re sleep deprived, you’re less resilient and more emotionally vulnerable. You feel less focused and you may suffer effects in your work, relationships, or personal life. But simply “getting sleep” is not enough. The time you sleep matters. If you toss and turn and wake in the night, it can also harm your mental health.
In today’s blog, we’ll discuss how the time you sleep impacts your mental health and how you can sleep for success.
How Time of Sleep Impacts Mental Health
On some level, this might be obvious. Most adults need 7-9 hours of sleep each night, and if you get less than that, you are more likely to be sleep deprived. But a study this year conducted by the University of Southampton concluded that sleep problems or issues with your circadian rhythm can, in fact, worsen or even trigger psychiatric disorders.1 Insomnia is common across psychological disorders and is often a precursor to them.
Additionally, they found that 32% of individuals diagnosed with bipolar disorder go to sleep and wake later than usual. This can become a vicious cycle as well, where symptoms of psychiatric disorders can make it difficult to sleep, leading to worsened symptoms. In bipolar disorder in particular, manic episodes cause the body’s clock to run ahead of time by about 7 hours, while depression slows the body’s clock down by 4-5 hours.
The Importance of Sleep Cycles and REM Sleep
Adults typically need at least 7 hours of sleep each night, with a good rule of thumb as 7-9 or 8 hours. It may vary slightly from person to person, but generally 6 hours or less will leave you feeling sleep deprived while more than 9 hours may cause grogginess and disorientation.
To understand the true impact of time of sleep, however, you have to understand sleep cycles. Most adults go through 3-5 sleep cycles each night. A sleep cycle contains 4 stages, divided between non-rapid eye movement sleep (NREM) and rapid eye movement sleep (REM):
- NREM 1: This first phase of sleep occurs when you first lie down, as you transition between waking and sleeping. This lasts, for the average person, around 5-10 minutes.
- NREM 2: If NREM 1 is your mind preparing for sleep, NREM 2 is your body preparing for sleep. Your body temperature drops and heartbeat slows. At this point, your brain begins to create sleep “spindles,” short bursts of activity during early stages of sleep.
- NREM 3: In this stage, your muscles relax as you fall fully into deep sleep. Your blood pressure and breath rate drops, as well.
- REM: During REM sleep, your body becomes relaxed and still while your brain becomes more active. As your mind whirs, your eyes move rapidly behind your eyelids. This is the deepest portion of sleep and typically where dreaming occurs.
Of all of these stages, REM sleep has long been considered the most important when it comes to feeling rested — though recent evidence has pointed to the NREM stages being more important for learning and memory. When you have fragmented sleep — a common symptom of depression, you may wake in the middle of cycles, breaking them and thus throwing off your circadian rhythm. This is also why napping for longer than 90 minutes is often ill-advised when dealing with mental health conditions, as this can restart your sleep cycle and make it harder to sleep at night.
Understanding Good Sleep Hygiene
If hygiene is the way that you take care of your body and appearance — your skin, teeth, hair, and so on — sleep hygiene is the way that you work towards improving your sleep. Even when you struggle with insomnia and fragmented sleep, there are habits that can help you to sleep better. They may not solve all of your sleep issues, but they can help you work towards healthier patterns.
Sleep Hygiene Tips
So what habits are we talking about that can help you when you struggle with sleep? Here are a few common tips:
Go To Sleep At the Same Time Every Night
Set a routine. When you go to sleep at the same time every night, it sends a message to your body. You will begin to feel tired at the same time, which will make it easier to stick to that time for sleep.
Limit Naps
If you can avoid taking a nap during the day, do so. If you can’t, however, be careful not to throw off your sleep schedule. Avoid napping after 5pm, and try to keep naps between 30 and 90 minutes. Any longer than that and you can fall into REM sleep, which will reset your body’s clock.
Use Your Bed Just For Sleep
When you spend all day sitting in bed watching shows, reading a book, or working on your laptop, your body ceases to recognize it as a place for sleep. If, on the other hand, you primarily use your bed for sleep, it becomes easier for your brain to shift gears when you get into bed for the night. This will help you fall asleep faster so you have more time sleeping.
Avoid Late Night Snacks
Try to avoid eating within 3 hours of sleeping. If you do eat, make sure it’s something light and not acidic. Acid reflux, aside from the discomfort, can disrupt your sleep as can any food that hasn’t been fully digested by the time you lay down to sleep. Three hours gives you just enough time for your body to digest, but isn’t so long that you go to bed hungry.
Limit Caffeine Intake
This doesn’t mean that you have to give up your morning cup of coffee. But if you’re the kind of person who has 5 or 6 cups of coffee each day, this could be keeping you up and exacerbating insomnia. Try to switch to tea after 1 or 2 cups of coffee, and avoid drinking caffeine within 6 hours of going to bed.
Reach Out For Help
Even when you do everything right, sometimes you still struggle with fragmented sleep and insomnia. This is especially true for those who live with psychological disorders. So if you’re still having a hard time getting to sleep or staying asleep for the right amount of time, reach out for help. Talk to a psychiatrist about your sleep struggles to see if they can recommend sleep medication, or a therapist about coping skills that can help you quiet your mind at night.
Sleep deprivation isn’t something you should ignore, especially if you already struggle with your mental health. When you need help to better manage your sleep and improve your mental health, Rivia Mind is here for you. Contact our team today to learn more or to schedule a free 15-minute consultation.
Resources:
- Understanding the relationship between our sleep body clock and mental health – University of Southampton
- The Science of Sleep: Understanding What Happens When You Sleep – John Hopkins Medicine
