How to Improve Your Sleep for Better Mental Health
Anyone who’s pulled an all-nighter knows that a lack of sleep can negatively impact mental health. If a lack of sleep continues night after night, however, the impact can add up into a significant barrier to your well-being. Poor mental health (like stress, anxiety, trauma) can keep us up at night, and a lack of sleep can further worsen mental health, leading to a vicious cycle. How can this cycle be broken?
The best way to improve both sleep and mental health is to identify and modify the biggest sources of stress in your life, and a therapist can help with that. However, we don’t always have the luxury of minimizing stress: you might need to keep a stressful job for its benefits or have draining caretaking responsibilities, for example. When we can’t change the stressor, we can change our reactions to and management of the stress. Here’s some of our best techniques that can help you manage your stress, improve your sleep, and benefit your mental health.
Mind Dump Exercises: dedicate five minutes before bed to write down everything you’re worrying about. The act of acknowledging and writing down the worries can help release them and let the mind relax. This can help alleviate worries about forgetting something important - the “worry list” is still waiting for you in the morning.
Journaling: similar to the last idea, journaling, or putting your thoughts to paper, can help you organize your worries, process the day’s events, and work through them. Both following a prompt (try Google) or simply letting the words flow can be helpful for this exercise.
Exercise and limit caffeine intake well before bedtime.
Save your bed for sleeping only. Reserving your bedroom just for sleeping helps train your brain to associate climbing in with falling asleep. If it’s an option for you, try moving your desk to another room and relaxing on the couch instead of bed.
Create a bedtime routine. Following a routine (ex. shower, brush teeth, read, drink tea) can help train your brain to recognize when it’s time to sleep and help you fall asleep faster.
Try a warm bath or shower at nighttime.
Visualize things you’re looking forward to the next day.
Listen to a guided meditation (there’s many great free videos on YouTube!).
These tips and techniques can help you manage your stress and get a better nights’ sleep. If you find that nothing you try helps, then it may be time to see a healthcare provider. Your primary care physician can help you rule out any physiological causes that may be impairing your sleep, and a qualified therapist can help you address stressors in your life and apply techniques like Sleep CBT that have been proven to improve symptoms of insomnia. Need a CBT therapist in Metro Detroit? Look no further than AWC.
References
Barker, M. (2024, February 16). Understanding sleep and mental health. Ellie Mental Health, PLLP. https://elliementalhealth.com/understanding-sleep-and-mental-health/
