Dalai Lama once said, “sleep is the best medicine.” Sleep is essential to the human body because it allows your body to rest, recharge, and recover for another day. Without enough sleep, serious repercussions could occur because sleep is needed to keep your body healthy and functioning properly. Adults are believed to need 7-9 hours of sleep each night with children and teenagers possibly needing more. In this blog, we’ll discuss why sleep is so important for your mental health. It can help us recover both physically and mentally, can cause mood disorders such as depression, and a lack of sleep can lead to irritability- which I’m sure everybody’s experienced before! 

Sleep Helps us Recover from Mental and Physical Exertion

Getting enough sleep can help us recover from both physical and mental exertion. Sleep and health have a strong correlation to one another. Poor sleep can lead to poor health while poor health can make it harder to sleep, which is why it’s important to pay attention to both. Some physical problems that poor sleep is linked to include a weakened immune system. It is also linked to mental health disorders such as anxiety and depression. Not getting enough sleep also skews our ability to regulate emotions properly.

Lack of Sleep can Cause Irritability 

A lack of sleep can cause irritability, which in turn can hurt your relationships with others. Studies have found that people who are sleep deprived report increases in negative moods (anger, frustration, irritability, sadness) and decreases in positive moods. Being irritable and in a negative mood might hurt your relationships with others, as well as your relationship with yourself. Getting the right kind of sleep can help fix your mood for the better.

Chronic Insomnia can Cause Mood Disorder

Chronic insomnia can increase an individual’s risk of developing a mood disorder, such as anxiety or depression. One study of 10,000 adults found that people with insomnia were five times more likely to develop anxiety and 20 times more likely to develop a panic disorder. This again goes to show that sleep and health are interconnected.

Tips to Improve your Sleeping Habits

Don’t let these reasons scare you! Improving your sleep habits starts with changing your lifestyle. Be sure to go to bed at the same time every night, turn off lights from your phone and TV at least 30 minutes before bed, and begin cutting out caffeine from your life. You can also try to reduce irregular and long naps during the day. If you’re still having trouble sleeping, you might have a sleep disorder or a mental health disorder. Give us a call at 210-549-6663 to schedule a consultation.