Unbeknownst to many, there is a correlation between sleep and mental health, and as such, living with a mental health issue can affect how well you sleep. In turn, poor sleep can have a negative impact on your mental status.
See a pattern – or, better yet, a cycle – developing here?
The following list represents the ways in which sleep can be affected by notable psychological wellbeing problems.
It is an unfortunate fact of life that spending the majority of our adulthood at a job is a reality. In addition to an American workday that averages 9.5 hours, a Sleep in America poll we looked at found that each week, Americans are spending more than four extra hours working from home – a statistic undoubtedly fueled by the post-pandemic climate.
Sure, if someone were to ask you what the number one thing you shouldn’t do before going to bed, you’d probably say “drink coffee” – but there’s much more to this equation of getting a good night’s sleep. Of course, it’s also deeper than simply going to bed at a reasonable time; rather, it’s all about planning your nighttime routine so that you avoid sleep-depriving bad habits.
You should know by now that a good night’s sleep is necessary for our well-being and overall health, but were you aware that consumption of alcohol and drugs can actually impact sleep in negative fashions? Indeed, they can, and in this post we’re going to look at the different ways substances can influence your sleep patterns, right up to and including the arrival at the REM (rapid eye movement)
In obese people, fat deposits in the upper respiratory tract make the airway narrow, leading to a decrease in muscle activity in this region and, ultimately, apneic and hypoxic episodes – thus, sleep apnea. These episodes lead to an oxygen decrease in both blood vessels and body tissues, and this decreased oxygenation is a contributor to tissue hypoxia, the primary aggressor of atherosclerosis.
When we’re young, we really don’t think about it too much, but after we’ve put some years behind us and have to catch a good night’s rest in order to function at a job in the adult world, we come to understand the value of sleep. According to research we’ve looked at and analyzed, the average human being spends a third of their life sleeping, and it should come as no surprise that good sleep equates to good health.
When we think about foods or beverages that may keep us up at night, we immediately conjure up visions of coffee, cola, chocolate and all other manner of sugary delights. But what about foods that can actually help us sleep better?
Sleep, like anything else, can be good or bad in quality, and often times it’s everything in-between – including restless. One of the major causes of this broken, restless sleep is stress...Read more
Most of these will be over-the-counter remedies (i.e. “sleeping pills”) from either name brand companies or generic variants, yet the results should remain the same: assistance in lulling yourself to sleep when your mind and/or body just won’t let you.
As many as a third of American male adults – according to research culled by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention – aren’t getting enough sleep on a regular basis…and that’s an alarming statistic when you break it down. There are a myriad of possible factors at play here with regard to why someone could be struggling to sleep peacefully, the more common reasons having to do with mental health issues or poor “sleep hygiene.”
