Sleep and Mental Health Essay

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An Excellent Analysis of Sleep Hygiene and Mental Health

Here is the thing. Sleep and mental health are closely related. For instance, lack of sleep can affect your mental health as well as emotional state. Sure, if you deny your body an adequate amount of sleep, you are likely to be groggy or yawning all day. Indeed, you ought to observe different practices necessary for quality nighttime sleep and full daytime alertness.

Let’s face reality. Sleep problems can affect the way you contribute to your work and, likewise, increase the risk of developing psychiatric diseases. Therefore, here is a detailed analysis of sleep hygiene and mental health. Besides, the essay lets you understand how the two relate and the standard sleep hygiene techniques. Also, you get to know what it means by sleep hygiene and the connection to psychology.

What Is Sleep Hygiene In Psychology?

Generally, sleep hygiene in science is the union of your behavior and the situations encircling sleep. Furthermore, it means to endure trouble falling asleep at the right time. Similarly, it means having challenges falling asleep at the wrong time.

How Sleep and Sleep and Mental Health Essay Relate

Indeed, sleep and mental health are closely related. For this reason, sleep deprivation can easily affect your psychological condition, and so is your mental health. However, those with mental problems are more likely to have sleep disorders and even insomnia. Moreover, psychiatric patients suffer more of these effects.

For instance, fifty to eighty percent of psychiatric patients suffer from persistent sleep problems. Generally, sleep problems are common with anxiety, bipolar disorder, and depression patients. Similarly, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) patients face the same challenges. Sleep problems raise the risk for, or even contribute to the growth of psychiatric disorders.

Yes, treating sleep problems can help lessen symptoms of a mental health setback. Still, the mutual correlation between sleep and mental health is yet to reach full understanding. However, studies show that night sleep boosts both emotional and cerebral resilience. On the other hand, sleep deprivation sets the step to negative thinking, and so is emotional vulnerability.

How Sleep Affects the Wellbeing of Your Mind

Generally, a healthy sleep cycle has two major categories. The length of time supplied in one type or the other affects sleep progress. For instance, during quiet sleep, you tend to process through four stages of continuous sleep. Here, body temperature reduces, muscles relax, and breathing slows. The deepest stage generates physiological changes that boost your immune system operation.

On the other hand, is the Rapid Eye Movement (REM) sleep. Sure, this is the period where you experience dreams. In this category, body temperature, heart rate, breathing, and blood pressure increase to equal levels of awakening. Study reveals that REM sleep improves memory and learning abilities. Besides, it contributes to emotional health.

Likewise, scientists observed that sleep disruption affects stress hormones and neuro-transmitters levels. Furthermore, it wrecks brain havoc, emotional regulation, and impairs thinking capacity. To this end, insomnia might increase psychiatric disorder effects and vice versa.

Psychological Outcomes of Sleep Deficiency

Although there are more than seventy sleep disorders, the common ones include insomnia, obstructive sleep apnea, movement syndromes, and narcolepsy. These types of diseases and impacts depend on the kind of psychiatric diagnosis you go through.

Depression

According to research, 60% to 90% of adult depression patients, and about 90% of children with this kind of disorder experience sleep problems. Similarly, most patients with depression difficulties have insomnia. To be certain, one in five experience obstructive sleep apnea. Insomnia and other sleep problems increase the chances of developing depression.

To this end, depressed patients who have insomnia respond less to treatment than those without sleep problems. Furthermore, patients who succeed with anti-depressant therapy may, later on, suffer from a relapse of depression. Also, depressed patients with insomnia are more likely to think about suicide than depressed patients who can sleep regularly.

Bipolar Disorder

About sixty-nine percent to ninety-nine percent of patients with insomnia report less need of sleep, and so are those who have bipolar disorder. However, some of the patients with bipolar disorder sleep excessively, while others experience restless sleep.

Furthermore, studies reveal that those who have insomnia and other sleep problems get worse right before a bipolar depression. Yes, sleep deprivation can easily trigger mania or bipolar depression. Also, sleep problems can adversely affect your mood as well as contribute to a relapse.

Anxiety Disorder

Generally, sleep problems are common in adult patients with anxiety disorder. Similarly, people with post-traumatic stress disorder are also victims. Besides, it may occur as a panic disorder, phobias or obsessive- driven mayhem. Likewise, children who suffer from anxiety take long to fall asleep. Insomnia is also a prevalent risk factor for an anxiety disorder.

For instance, research reveals that insomnia can make anxiety symptoms worse or even prevent recovery. Indeed, sleep disorder in PTSD may contribute to the retention of negative memories. As a result, patients may not benefit from fear-quenching therapies.

Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder

Here is the thing. Different sleep problems affect about 50% of children with ADHD. Such issues include difficulty in falling asleep, short sleep duration as well as restless slumber. Besides, ADHD symptoms and sleep difficulties are similar, hard to differentiate.

Additionally, Sleep-disordered breathing affects about 25% of kids with ADHD. Restless legs syndrome also disrupts sleep. Therefore, children with this kind of disorder are hyperactive, emotionally unstable, and inattentive.

Sleep Hygiene Techniques

Do you struggle to improve your sleep hygiene? Worry no more. Here are the most popular sleep hygiene techniques to guide you to better sleep. Firstly, one of the most crucial practices is to spend reasonable time asleep in bed. Remember, not excessive or too little. Generally, sleep intensity varies across different ages. Besides, the amount of sleep can vary because of lifestyle or health conditions.

Ensure That Your Sleeping Environment Is Amusing

Sure, the mattress and pillow in your bed should be comfy enough to avoid pain on the neck. Besides, your bedroom should be fresh, say sixty to sixty-seven degrees Celsius for optimal sleep. Remember, bright lights from TV screens, lamps, and cell phones can distract you from sleeping.

For this reason, you ought to turn off these lights and adjust when possible. Furthermore, you can use blackout curtains, earplugs, eyeshades, fans, humidifiers, and other devices to make your bedroom more pleasant.

Go To Sleep At The Same Time Each Day.

For instance, your brain releases melatonin thirty minutes before thinking of sleep time. Conversely, your brain cannot do that without knowing when you are going to sleep. Of course, you cannot command the mind to go to sleep. Indeed it is like a small child. For that reason, you have to train it frequently. Yes, it is okay to change the intervals a bit, but you have to set a clear bedtime.

Establish a Regular Bedtime Relaxing Schedule

In short, come up with a standard nightly routine. Indeed, it helps your body know its bedtime. For this reason, you can take a warm bath or shower, read a book, or take light stretches. Besides, avoid upsetting talks or activities before bedtime. They only keep you awake thinking about what path to take or solutions.

Get Adequate Natural Light Exposure.

Likewise, natural light is equally essential for a better sleep, especially if you don’t venture outside most of the time. Sure, sunlight during the day and darkness during the nights help maintain a healthy sleep cycle.

Avoid Bright Lights Right After Sunset.

The melatonin produced by your brain prepares you for sleep, but bright light affects its function. Of course, you do not have to walk in the dark. Simply, turn off most of the lights when it’s almost bedtime. Besides, you save power and improve your sleeping environment.

Avoid disruptive foods before sleep.

Heavy foods, spicy dishes, fried or fatty meals, carbonated drinks, and citrus fruits may lead to indigestion. These foods can lead to painful heartburn, hence disrupting your sleep. For that reason, you ought to avoid them before slumber time.

Avoid Stimulants Right Before Bedtime.

Similarly, stimulants like caffeine and nicotine disrupt sleep. Furthermore, you ought to avoid liquor right before bedtime. Although alcohol can help you fall asleep faster, too much can delay your rest as the body starts to absorb the alcohol.

Ensure You Have Eight Straight Hours of Sleep

Give your brain adequate time to cycle through different stages of sleep. There are four stages of sleep and then REM sleep. Each of these cycles require at least one hour. Do the math. Your body needs about eight hours to perform all stages. Sure, if you wake up before the cycle is complete, you won’t feel rested.

For that reason, your brain needs to know how much time it has to get every stage done. Although it can adjust slightly, most people usually take about eight hours. You have to pay close attention to how many hours you need to complete the cycle. Remember, the older you get, the less sleep you require.

Avoid Taking Naps

Although occasional nap is okay for your routine, do not make them regular. Keep in mind sleeping seven hours, and one hour later is not equal to eight straight hours of sleep. Furthermore, taking frequent naps can easily result in challenges during actual bedtime. Remember, if you have consistent good sleep, you won’t need the naps throughout the day. However, short naps say 20-30 minutes can boost mood, performance, and alertness.

Exercise Regularly

Exercising is one of the crucial ways to boost your sleep hygiene. Take as little as ten minute’s aerobic exercise, including cycling or walking. Yes, as simple as it sounds, it can improve the quality of your sleep. However, avoid heavy workouts close to bedtime. Remember, sleep intense because of exercise varies from one person to another. Therefore, find what works perfectly for you.

Cognitive-Behavioral Remedy

In particular, this is for people with insomnia since they tend to be pre-occupied not to fall asleep. Cognitive-behavioral therapy helps them change their negative outlook by improving morale. Sure, this helps to attain a better night’s sleep. Besides, this technique can shift the blame game for every personal challenge experienced during the day.

Relaxation Practices

Of course, meditation, deep breathing exercises, progressive muscle rest, and guided imagery can minimize anxiety as well as racing thoughts. The tense and muscle releasing boosts the quality of your sleep.

Avoid Stress Before Bedtime.

If you are stressing over tomorrow plans, then it’s smart to write them down. Remember prefrontal cortex keeps these things in your memory. Besides, worrying about forgetting them is stressful. Of course, this kind of stress inhibits sleep. For that reason, take a pen and piece of paper. After all, you don’t have to keep your mind working overtime.

Does Oversleeping Cause Depression?

It’s probable to get more of a real thing, and oversleeping can be a sign of depression. Generally, sleeping more than eight hours a day may not be as healthy as you think. In this case, if you sleep and experience sadness or low mood, it is an indication of depression. About fifteen percent of people with depression tend to sleep too much. Remember, regular sleep habits are crucial to the recovery process.

If you oversleep because of alcohol consumption or a specific medication, cut it back or eliminate. However, never stop a prescribed medicine. Instead, see a doctor for a checkup. Sure, the doctor will help you understand why you oversleep. Likewise, if you oversleep because of a particular medical condition, it is smart to treat it. In that way, you are a step towards healthy sleep habits.