Restless Minds: Understanding the Link Between Sleep Problems and Mental Health
If you’re having trouble sleeping, you’re not alone. According to sleep experts, stress and anxiety, as well as spending more time isolated indoors can negatively affect the quality of our sleep. If you are struggling to get a good night of sleep, here are some tips and tricks to help:
Clean Up Your Sleep Hygiene
Sleep hygiene is a phrase we psychologists use to describe your sleep environment, before and during your sleep. Modern life and technology are often at odds with our ideal sleep needs, which evolved over thousands of years and by which our bodies still operate best. These are some sleep hygiene tips to help you work with your natural biological rhythms not against them:
Reserve your bed for rest and sleep. Even though it may be tempting to log on to your computer from the comfort of your bed, refrain from working in your bedroom. Your brain will likely start to associate your bedroom with work, making it more difficult to wind down when you’re attempting to fall asleep.
Make sure to get sunlight. If possible, spend some time outdoors each day, especially when the sun is out. If going outside is not an option, open your window shades, turn on as many overhead lights as possible, or invest in a lightbox. In the evening, dim the lights, including the brightness on computer screens and your cell phone. This helps to keep our body clocks running on time.
Get out of bed when you can’t fall asleep. Rather than trying to force yourself to fall asleep, get out of bed and engage in a quiet and relaxing activity. Journal writing or reading something light are a couple of options. Head back to bed when you’re feeling sleepy.
Create a relaxing nightly ritual. Allow your mind and body to wind down in the 1-2 hours before you go to bed each night. Engage in a relaxing routine every evening, whether it’s taking a warm bath, sipping herbal tea while listening to calming music, or doing a sleep meditation exercise. This will signal to your brain that it is time for bed and you may find yourself falling asleep much more easily.
If you want to learn more about how therapy can help you with sleeping troubles, book a free consultation with Thrive Psychology Group. We offer in-person therapy in California and New York, as well as online therapy in more than 42 states.
Managing The Racing Thoughts That Pop Up When You Lay Down
Do you notice when you lay down (or when you wake up in the middle of the night) is the moment when your brain decides to put on a playlist of all your worries, what-ifs, self-doubt, and fears? This is partly because when you lay down, you can’t distract yourself from your thoughts, so like a chatty child who has been ignored all day, your mind comes at you with all the backed-up non-stop chatter it has been saving up all day. The best way to change the chatter from negative to positive and get the quiet you need as you drift to sleep in two ways:
Give your brain another time to get it all out. Make another quiet space in your day. Meditate, journal, or talk it out with a friend or a therapist. Create other scheduled times of silence each day to let your brain get it all out and it won’t have to ambush you with all the unthought thoughts of the day when you lay down at night.
Change the way you speak throughout the day, so your automatic thought processes won’t be so dire and anxious at night. Take time in the day to listen to the way you talk to yourself and about your circumstances. Do you say things like: “I never have enough time”
I have to hurry up.
I’ll never buy a home.
I’ll never get out of debt.
I wish I could be…
Language is a powerful tool. From the moment we wake up those moments right before we drift off into sleep, our minds keep us company through a consistent stream of chatter. The type of language we use to describe ourselves and our world shapes not only how we show up, but also how we feel about ourselves and those around us.
What does your chatter sound like? Does it come from a place of “lack” or a place of self-kindness?
Lack language. What I don’t have, how I don’t measure up, how I’m not where I want to be.
Take a moment to notice how you feel when your mind is filled with “lack” language.
Self-kindness language. What I am doing well/good enough, how I’m a human who both thrives and makes mistakes, how I have the opportunity to work towards where I want to be. How do you feel when you practice self-kindness?
The next time you catch yourself in a lack language roller coaster, see if you can ask yourself,
How was I human today?
How was I good enough today?
Practice Daily Gratitude
Creating a gratitude practice that you do daily can have a huge impact on your wellbeing and your sleep. Make it a habit to practice some form of gratitude right before bed. Write your gratitudes from the day. Say thank you to someone in your house or send a note of gratitude to a friend or family member. Think of this as the emotional equivalent of turning on a lullaby. When we feel gratitude, it is hard to feel anxiety or under threat, especially when it focuses us on how we are not alone and we are loved, which are two very important things for mammals to know to feel safe. And safe means better sleep.
Keep a gratitude journal
Thank someone
Practice mindfulness
Practice giving
Gratitude images or objects
Researchers have found that gratitude is associated with greater happiness, success, improvement in relationships, and better health. Recent studies have even suggested that gratitude practices can result in long-term positive changes in our brains. Practicing gratitude means we are bringing awareness to and feel a sense of appreciation for what we do have as opposed to focusing on what we lack or perceive would make us happier if we did have it.
Write down 5 things that you feel grateful for on a daily basis. Keep this journal near your bed, so that you can practice this exercise consistently either nightly before you go to bed or when you wake up each morning.
Thank someone, whether in the form of a note or in person, for something that they have done or said that you are grateful for.
Practice being in the moment and attending to sensations that bring you peace or joy, like the warmth of the sun, the sound of the waves, the sight of your favorite flower, the touch of a loved one, or the taste of food that you love.
Giving to others not only helps the people we care for but also positively affects our own well-being. Practice giving sincere compliments, volunteering your time to a cause that you are passionate about, donating money to those in need, or helping someone with a difficult task or chore.
Collect images of things and people that you are grateful for and place them where you can see them every day, whether it’s in the form of a collage that you pin up above your desk, photos that you keep on your fridge, or framed pictures that you decorate your walls with. Find objects that represent what you are grateful for and create an altar with them. Use your creativity and have fun with it!
How to Know When Trouble Sleeping Could Be The Result of Unprocessed Trauma
Many people who’ve lived through traumatic events may experience hypervigilance. Hypervigilance is a state of heightened autonomic arousal, wherein your mind and body is constantly scanning the environment for threats and preparing your body to fight, flee, or freeze.
Signs of hypervigilance may include:
GI issues
Jumpiness
Increased heart rate
Shakiness
Avoidance of certain situations or places
Overestimation of danger
Sweating
Emotional outbursts
Difficulty sleeping
Living in a constant, or near constant, state of hypervigilance is exhausting and can have negative long-term physical health consequences, such as hypertension, atherosclerosis, and heart attacks. Living in a state of hypervigilance can also impact social relationships, weakening your support system and negatively impacting your mental health.
Fortunately, hypervigilance is something that can be addressed.
A therapist who has experience working with survivors of trauma can provide a safe environment and tools to address hypervigilance.
Practicing mindfulness can also help you gain nonjudgmental awareness of your surroundings and has a profound, positive impact on the structure of our brains, which can lessen the severity of your hypervigilance.
You can also cultivate spaces in which you feel safe, which can give your nervous system permission to relax. If you feel like you can’t get a good night’s sleep due to hypervigilance or nightmares, you may need to work with a therapist to help process whatever trauma is causing you to have these feelings.
When To Talk To A Doctor and When To Talk to a Therapist
When to see your doctor
Sleeplessness is often something that has multiple causes, which might mean you need to address it with help from several different professionals. Some insomnia has a medical cause such as perimenopause/menopause (perimenopause can start as early as your late 30s and can wreak havoc on your sleep), thyroid issues, cortisol, certain nutrient deficiencies, or other medical conditions. Many doctors don’t test for all these underlying causes of sleeplessness but might be quick to give a sleeping pill, which does not address the underlying causes. So, be sure to find a doctor with a curious and holistic stance on treating insomnia and advocate for comprehensive testing.
When you see a therapist
The tricky thing about insomnia is that, even if it starts with a medical issue, specific life event, or something that is now resolved, it can evolve into an ongoing prolonged issue that lasts long after the original issue is resolved. So, if your sleep issues persist, then seeing a therapist is the best way to get your sleep back on track.
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