Sleep

Key points

  • Not sleeping enough or sleeping too much can affect our mental health.
  • On average, adults need 7-9 hours of sleep whereas children need 9-13 hours per night.
  • There are various ways to help improve your sleep, including sleep hygiene (e.g. establishing a routine, avoiding caffeine and rigorous exercise before bed), medications, and self-help based on Cognitive Behavioural Therapy.

How does sleep relate to our mental health?

Feeling stressed or worried can make getting enough good quality sleep more difficult. The resulting tiredness can then make it more difficult to cope with daily life. Not coping can make us feel more anxious and low in mood, which in turns make it harder to sleep.

Alternatively, we may sleep more when we are feeling low and this means we miss out on meaningful activities we enjoy and makes it harder to cope with chores and responsibilities. You might become isolated as the sense of a lack of energy might put you off socializing.

You might:

  • Find it tricky to fall asleep, stay asleep or wake up early
  • Have sleep that’s disturbed e.g. by nightmares
  • Find it difficult to wake or get up
  • Often feel tired
  • Sleep a lot

Did you know?

Everyone needs different amounts of sleep. On average, adults need 7-9 hours of sleep whereas children need 9-13 hours per night.

Sometimes it feels like we haven’t slept when we have, but if you’re constantly tired during the day then you might not be getting enough and it’s worth trying out some of the tips below and/or speaking to a medical professional. If you’re sleeping much more than the average, it’s also worth speaking to a medical professional.

If you have concerns around your sleep, please speak to your GP – they may prescribe you some medication to help with this.

What might help?

Different things can work for different people at different times, so try these out and see what you think. There’s more info on each tip here: Tips to improve your sleep – Mind

Reflection questions

  • What do you find challenging about getting enough good quality sleep?
  • Are you doing any of the suggested things already? Which ones? How much and when do they help?
  • Is there anything you’d like to try out? For how long? How will you know if it’s been helpful? What support do you need to do this?

Resources

The info in this section is based on resources produced by the charity Mind: Sleep and mental health – Mind

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