How Sleeping Schedule/Patterns Impacts Your Mental Health

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In general, it is advisable that adults get regular sleep of at least 7 hours to support their physical and mental well-being. Although the amount of sleep we get is important, good quality sleep is also essential. Even though most people fall somewhere in between the two most common terms—”night owls” and “early birds”—that are frequently used to describe the two types of person.  The probability of being an early bird or a night owl depends on your genetic background, age, and other variables. 

A study published in Sleep Medicine in November 2021, involving 22,330 participants from 13 countries, found that one in three participants reported experiencing symptoms of clinical insomnia, with over 20% meeting the criteria for an insomnia diagnosis. Many of us have noticed that “a good night’s sleep” makes us feel better and that lack of sleep makes us grumpier. That provides solid proof that sleep is essential for both our physical and mental wellbeing. It has been proven that insufficient or poor sleep decreases positive emotion and increases negative emotional reactions to triggers.

Sleep is a complex process that affects our entire body. When we sleep, we cycle through a series of sleep stages, from light sleep (stages 1 and 2) to deep sleep (stage 3) and then rapid eye movement (REM) sleep. Successfully cycling through all of these sleep stages multiple times each night allows sleep to perform its critical function of restoring our bodies and minds. You will reap the greatest benefits from sleep when you get enough hours of sleep each night.

Components that affect the quality of sleep

• Sleep duration: Getting a healthy amount of sleep is a key part of a good sleep pattern.. Healthy adults need at least 7 hours of sleep each night. Babies, young children, and teens need even more sleep to enable their growth and development. 
• Sleep continuity: Quality sleep is continuous. Sleeping straight through the night with minimal disruption is much better than having your night’s sleep interrupted frequently, it’s bad to be interrupted during sleep, because when a sleep stage is interrupted, your body has to reset and start going through the stages all over again, which could prevent you from getting deep, quality sleep. Interrupted sleep can cause: Irritability, decreased creativity, increased stress, decreased accuracy, tremors, pain, loss or loss of memory. 
• Sleep timing: The timing of your sleep in a 24 hour period is also important, Additionally, maintaining a regular bedtime promotes healthy sleep.

In fact, poor sleep quality can increase the risk of mental health disorders or problems. While the relations between sleep deprivation and mental health are complex, the two are indeed interrelated.

Impact of poor sleep quality:

• Affects emotions, based on stress where the body lacks rest, the brain (amygdala) activities increase by only 60%, so the functional deficits that occur result in a decrease in mood which causes the amygdala and ventral anterior cingulate cortex (vACC) to work by increasing the response to negative stimuli. You can feel angry and impulsive, mood swings, feel sad or depressed so that you feel stressed.
• Stress, the body needs rest after a day’s activities. So, if it is not fulfilled, then the body will tire easily and have no energy.
• Depression, it’s complex to know that sleep issues or depression first appear as a cause and effect (whether sleep issues cause depression or depression causes sleep issues). While insomnia can be a symptom in depression (psychiatric disorders). Thus, it is known that the contribution from lack of sleep can worsen your mental health.
• ADHD, the symptoms themselves are similar to sleep deprivation, where ADHD appears (hyperactive) at night and they’re sleepy during the day, it becomes difficult for them to concentrate and their emotional condition becomes unstable too.
• Bipolar disorder, when the mania phase (overjoyed, full of energy) comes, the individual becomes super active, this triggers extreme fatigue which is accommodated in the individual so that the duration of their sleep becomes longer than the depression phase begins.
• Anxiety Disorder, when excessive anxiety attacks a person, it becomes more difficult for them to sleep. So, sleep deprivation can trigger a negative cycle (affect the emotion of a negative stimulus) in a person’s ability to control their emotions.

Studies of sleep deprivation show that healthy people when they are sleep deprived experience an increase in anxiety levels. Meanwhile, people who already have mental health disorders, they tend to be more chronic than healthy people, so this can worsen their psychiatric symptoms and increase the risk of suicide or suicidal thoughts.

So overcoming sleep problems is very important and contributes to your mental health in order to reduce the risk of depression, anxiety, and even suicidal thoughts, therefore lack of sleep is very important for one’s own mental health.

Lack of sleep and poor-quality sleep can have negative effects on mental health. People with anxiety tend to experience more sleep disturbances, but experiencing sleep deprivation can also contribute to feelings of anxiety. Sleep helps maintain cognitive skills, such as attention, learning, and memory, so poor sleep can make it much more difficult to cope with even relatively minor stressors and can even impact our ability to perceive the world accurately. Studies have shown that inadequate sleep is associated with frequent mental distress, and sleep deprivation causes substantial negative health outcomes. 

The cumulative long-term effects of sleep loss and sleep disorders have been associated with a wide range of deleterious health consequences including an increased risk of hypertension, diabetes, obesity, depression, heart attack, and stroke. Sleep loss is associated with adverse effects on mood and behavior, and adults with chronic sleep loss report excess mental distress, depressive symptoms, anxiety, and alcohol use. While research is ongoing to better understand the connections between mental health and sleep, the evidence to date points to a bidirectional relationship. Mental health disorders tend to make it harder to sleep well, and poor sleep, including insomnia, can be a contributing factor to the initiation and worsening of mental health problems. Regularly not getting enough sleep leads to chronic sleep deprivation, which can have dramatic effects on a teenager’s life, impacting their mental wellbeing, increasing their risk of depression, anxiety, and low self-esteem. 

Tips and suggestions for improving healthy sleep patterns:

• Pay attention to your food and drink before sleep

It is advisable to eat at least 4 hours before bedtime to allow your stomach to settle and not disrupt your sleep. Avoid consuming food or drinks that contain caffeine, such as coffee, cola, tea, and chocolate, as well as drinking alcohol close to your bedtime. 

• Create a comfortable sleeping environment

Sleeping is usually more comfortable in a quiet, dark, clean, and cool environment that can help you sleep soundly. 

• Establish pre-sleep habits

Engage in activities that help you relax before bedtime, such as taking a bath, reading a book, or listening to soothing music. However, be cautious about using electronic devices as their blue light can disrupt the hormone melatonin, which is responsible for inducing sleep. 

• Establish a consistent sleep schedule, even on weekends

Maintain a regular sleep and wake schedule by sleeping and waking up at the same time every day, even on weekends. This can help your body reset its biological clock and improve the quality of your sleep since your body will naturally know when to sleep and wake up.

• Limit or avoid daytime napping 

Consider whether you need a nap or not. For example, if you need to stay up late or work night shifts, then a nap may be necessary. However, if your sleep needs are met through nighttime sleep or if you have sleep disorders such as insomnia, it is best to avoid daytime napping. 

• Engage in regular exercise

Regular exercise can help you fall asleep faster and have a more restful sleep. However, if you engage in intense exercise close to bedtime, it may disrupt your sleep.

References

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• Columbia University. (2022, March 16). How Sleep Deprivation Impacts Mental Health. Columbia University Department of Psychiatry. Retrieved June 14, 2023, from https://www.columbiapsychiatry.org/news/how-sleep-deprivation-affects-your-mental-health#
• Extent and Health Consequences of Chronic Sleep Loss and Sleep Disorders. (n.d.). NCBI. Retrieved June 16, 2023, from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK19961/
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• Colten. H.R., & Altevoght. B. M. (2016). Extent and Health Consequences of Chronic Sleep Loss and Sleep Disorders. NCBI. Retrieved June 16, 2023, from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK19961/
• Rehman, A. (2023, June 1). Healthy Sleep: What Is It and Are You Getting It? Sleep Foundation. Retrieved June 16, 2023, from https://www.sleepfoundation.org/sleep-hygiene/what-is-healthy-sleep
• Saghir, Z. (2018, July 2). The Amygdala, Sleep Debt, Sleep Deprivation, and the Emotion of Anger: A Possible Connection? NCBI. Retrieved June 16, 2023, from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6122651/
• Sleep Deprivation and Deficiency – How Sleep Affects Your Health. (2022, June 15). NHLBI. Retrieved June 16, 2023, from https://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/sleep-deprivation/health-effects
• Suni, E., & Dimitriu, A. (2023, May 26). Mental Health and Sleep. Sleep Foundation. Retrieved June 16, 2023, from https://www.sleepfoundation.org/mental-health
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