Managing your mental health isn’t just about taking your meds and showing up to therapy. One of the most important things you can do to ensure your mental well-being is to get good sleep. At Palms Behavioral Health in Harlingen, Texas, we treat psychiatric disorders including depression, anxiety, bipolar disorder, and schizophrenia. We encourage all of our patients to ensure they are getting enough sleep.
Common Sleep Disturbances
Several issues can have a negative effect on our sleep. These include:
- Inability to fall asleep quickly
- Waking up prematurely
- Being excessively tired during waking hours
- Sleep apnea
- Nightmares (which may get worse following trauma or during substance withdrawal)
- Restless leg syndromes
- Disrupted circadian rhythm
Signs Your Sleep is Insufficient
A lot of people struggle to get enough sleep or good quality sleep. You might be one of them if:
- You don’t feel refreshed and alert when you wake up in the morning
- You have a hard time focusing on work, school, driving, or social engagements
- You struggle to stay awake during recreational activities, meetings, classes, conversations with other people and pauses in traffic
- Your thought processes are slowed down
- You’re having trouble learning or remembering things
For children and adults alike, poor or insufficient sleep can result in anger, impulsiveness, mood swings, sadness, and lack of motivation.
Reasons Why Aren’t You Sleeping
Getting the rest you need can be harder if you’re:
- Female
- Older
- Stressed
- Traveling
- In recovery from a substance use disorder – and lack of sleep is also a relapse trigger
- Working late, early, or changing schedules
- Spending too much time on electronics, especially just before bed
- Taking some medications, some antidepressants, blood pressure medications, asthma treatments, cold and allergy meds, and weight loss products with caffeine or other stimulants
- Struggling with certain mental or physical health conditions
- Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) – nightmares can cause people to awaken
- Depression – commonly associated with early wakefulness, especially when seen alongside low mood, decreased energy, and appetite changes
- Anxiety – worry and panic attacks can keep people awake
- Bipolar disorder – mania can result in energy bursts that interfere with sleep
- Chronic pain
- Cancer
- Diabetes
- Heart disease
- Eating too much before bed or eating a diet that is low in fiber, high in fat, high in sugar, and lacking enough vitamins and nutrients
How Much Sleep We Need
Each person is different, but there are general guidelines that are typically applied by age group:
- Adolescents – 8-10 hours – adolescents are also especially prone to negative effects from insufficient sleep such as an increase in sadness, suicidal thoughts or attempts, and substance misuse.
- Adults – 7-9 hours
- Older adults – 7-8 hours – while it is a common belief that people need less sleep as they get older, this is actually a myth. Older adults still need nearly as much sleep, but they often experience sleep disturbances that interfere with their rest, which can increase their likelihood of having daytime drowsiness, falls, poor quality of life, anxiety, depression, and heightened mortality risk
Sleep Quality Matters
It’s not enough to just get a certain number of hours of sleep. Your sleep also needs to be good quality. This means not being woken up repeatedly so your brain has the chance to move through all of the stages of sleep.
If you are sleep-deprived, you can take the following steps to address the problem:
- Seek mental health treatment, if you’re lying awake because of worry or stress
- Change your diet to reduce caffeine, sugar, and fat, and increase fiber, vitamins, and nutrients
- Meditate before bed to help your mind relax
- Make sure you’re getting enough exercise – but not within three hours of when you want to sleep
- Avoid naps, or at least keep them early and short
- Follow a consistent sleep routine by going to bed at the same time every night, waking up at the same time every morning, taking a bath before bed, journaling, and turning off electronics. Keep evening activities quiet and calm.
- Optimize your sleeping space and only use the bed for sleep and sex. Keep the space dark at night and bright during the day. Keep your room cool and well-ventilated. Make sure your mattress and pillows are comfortable. If your pets disturb your sleep, keep them out of the bedroom while you are sleeping.
At Palms Behavioral Health, we help adolescents, adults, and older adults who are struggling with severe mental health symptoms. We offer assessment, diagnosis, and stabilization for acute psychiatric issues through inpatient and outpatient care.
