Do you often find yourself waking up on the wrong side of the bed whenever you’re sleep-deprived? It’s no secret — not getting enough zzz’s can affect your mental health and lead to worse anxiety and depression. Let’s explore why this is the case.
The Connection Between Sleep and Mental Health
During the various stages of the sleep cycle, brain activity fluctuates. This plays a crucial role in brain health since the different parts of the brain have to ramp up or down during sleep to facilitate learning, memory, and thinking. And yes, these ‘activities’ also influence emotional and mental health.
Enough sleep, especially during the rapid eye movement (REM) phase, facilitates the way the brain processes emotional information through thought and memory processing. The regulation of stress hormones, such as cortisol, also happens during deep sleep.
As such, insufficient sleep can make it hard to solve problems, make decisions, cope with change, and control your behavior/emotions. Research shows that inadequate sleep is associated with significantly increased odds of frequent mental distress. Furthermore, losing 1-2 hours of sleep for several nights will impair your function as if you haven’t slept for a day or two.
It can also harm the consolidation of positive emotions, leading to mood and emotional reactivity, which are tied to mental health issues such as depression, anxiety, schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and suicidal ideation. In fact, even ‘healthy’ people are prone to exhibit increased anxiety and/or distress following poor sleep.
Sleep timing affects mental health, too. According to the American Psychiatric Association, research has shown that late sleep behavior has been linked with a higher risk of anxiety, depression, and other mental conditions. Sleeping earlier, meanwhile, was deemed better for mental health.
While sleep disorder was previously recognized as a symptom of mental health problems, research now suggests that sleep and mental health are related in such a way that they may be a cause or consequence of the other.
Sleep & Depression
According to the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI), around 8.4 million US adults suffer from a major depressive episode, which is characterized by feelings of hopelessness or sadness. Depressed people often have insomnia, while some have excessive daytime sleepiness or hypersomnia (too much sleeping).
While sleeping problems have long been seen as a symptom of depression, a report has shown a bidirectional relationship, with insomniacs having a 10-fold risk of developing depression compared to those who sleep well.
Furthermore, poor sleep quality has been associated with a worsening of symptoms. According to a report of the National Sleep Foundation, 7 out of 10 teens who were dissatisfied with their sleep reported elevated depressive symptoms.
In most cases, addressing sleep problems may help alleviate depressive symptoms as doing so will help build emotional resilience.
Seasonal Affective Disorder
This subtype of depression affects individuals whenever daylight hours are reduced, such as during autumn or winter. This occurs when a person’s biological clock or circadian rhythm is interrupted. Since this affects sleep — apart from many other body processes — it could lead to too much or too little sleep. Alternatively, it could lead to sleep cycle disruptions.
Sleep & Anxiety
Anxiety is a condition that results in excessive worry/fear, so much so that it affects everyday life and increases one’s risk of diabetes and heart disease. Approximately 19.8% of US adults have anxiety disorders, according to NAMI.
Examples of anxiety disorders include:
- Generalized anxiety disorder
- Social anxiety disorder
- Panic disorder
- Obsessive-compulsive disorder
- Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)
- Specific phobias
Anxiety is often linked with sleep issues. The constant state of worry and fear can lead to hyperarousal, a state where the mind is always racing, and as such can lead to insomnia. Furthermore, lack of sleep can be another source of worry, which could lead to anticipatory anxiety, making it even harder to sleep.
PTSD also has a strong connection to poor sleep, as people with PTSD suffer from nightmares, are on high alert, and often replay traumatizing events in their mind.
Poor sleep, meanwhile, can lead to anxiety in people who are deemed high-risk. In fact, chronic insomnia has been deemed a predisposing trait for people who develop anxiety.
Strategies to Improve Sleep & Mental Health
Here are some tips to help improve sleep — and possibly reduce your risk of developing anxiety, depression, or other mental health conditions.
Establish a Consistent Sleep Routine
To get enough sleep every night, you need to establish a sleep routine, which could include showering, brushing your teeth, and wearing comfy pajamas before bedtime. Reading a book or listening to soft music could be part of your nightly routine as well.
Setting a ‘lights off’ time and avoiding afternoon naps will also help. Additionally, make sure to avoid caffeine, nicotine, a large meal, or strenuous exercise near bedtime.
Create a Sleep-Friendly Environment
Making your bedroom sleep-friendly will get you to doze faster — and longer. Here’s how to create a conducive environment for sleeping:
- Keep your room dark and cool
- Turn off devices (cellphones, TVs, or computers) that could affect your sleep
- Keep pets outside the room
- Use a white noise machine
Manage Your Stress
As stress can make you lose sleep, managing it is crucial. Whenever you’re feeling stressed, make sure to try any of these methods:
- Deep breathing exercises: Inhale through the nose and exhale through the mouth. Count your breaths.
- Progressive muscle relaxation (PMR): Focus on one part of your body — tense and relax these muscles until you feel fully relaxed.
- Yoga: The deep breathing exercises, stretches, and slow movements associated with this exercise can help calm the mind and relieve stress.
The good news is that stress management/relaxation methods such as PMR and yoga may help relieve mild to moderate depression symptoms as well.
Go For Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy
Cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) can help you determine the thoughts and behaviors that affect your sleep and replace them with habits that promote sleep. This method is ideal for those with long-term sleep problems or those who are worried about being dependent on sleeping pills.
CBT can also help with depression, as it can help you break your feelings of self-doubt and guilt, allowing you to feel better with yourself. Likewise, CBT can help with anxiety disorders by altering one’s maladaptive emotional responses.
Seek Professional Help
If your sleeping problems have persisted for more than three months, then you may want to consider seeing a physician or nurse practitioner (NP) specializing in sleep. During your visit, they will ask about your sleeping problems, obtain a medical history, and conduct a physical exam. Depending on your issue, they may recommend strategies such as reconditioning or stimulus control to help you get a good night’s sleep.
Likewise, a psychiatrist, psychologist, or psychiatric-mental health NP (PMHNP) can help you deal with your mental health condition. If you have depression, for example, your physician or PMHNP may prescribe antidepressants and/or recommend psychoanalytic approaches such as analytical psychotherapy or depth psychology. They may also recommend systemic therapy, which places importance on your relationships with people.
If you have anxiety, then your physician or PMHNP may prescribe pharmacotherapeutic options such as selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, serotonin–norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors, tricyclic antidepressants, and more. These are often combined with psychotherapy for optimal outcomes. They may also recommend other options such as hypnosis, biofeedback, autogenic training, and homeopathy, to name a few.
Conclusion
The connection of sleep with anxiety and depression underscores the importance of getting enough sleep for optimum mental health. After all, insufficient sleep can lead to the worsening of the aforementioned conditions.
The good news is that improving sleep habits may help promote emotional resilience and maintain psychological stability. Adopting healthy sleep routines, managing stress, and consulting with your physician or NP are instrumental for achieving better mental health and overall quality of life.