4.4 Sleep

Sleeping well is essential for managing stress, coping with daily demands and maintaining mental and physical health. Living with a mental health problem can affect how well you sleep, for example anxiety can cause repetitive thoughts and worries. Depression and seasonal affective disorder can make you want to sleep more; staying in bed for longer or sleeping more often, but depression can also cause insomnia (Mind, 2020). Sleep problems can create a vicious cycle of poor mental health, which is exacerbated the more sleep problems continue, as depicted in the following diagram adapted from Mind (2020).

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A cycle of words: ‘Feelings of worry or stress’, ‘Lack of sleep’, ‘Tiredness’, ‘Difficulty coping with daily life’, ‘Low self-esteem’.

Sleep allows your brain and body to rest, recharge and self-repair. Lack of sleep, or poor sleep, directly affects mood, patience, resilience and overall feelings of wellbeing. The sleep-wake cycle is affected by circadian rhythms, 24-hour cycles that are part of the body’s internal clock. Different systems of the body follow circadian rhythms which are synchronised with a biological clock in the brain. This internal clock is directly influenced by light, and when properly aligned, a circadian rhythm can promote consistent and restorative sleep, and similarly when the circadian rhythm is misaligned, insomnia can ensue (Sleep Foundation, 2023a). Research has shown circadian rhythms have an integral role in aspects of mental health (Brainard et al., 2015).

Good-quality sleep is influenced by sleep hygiene, which involves creating appropriate environments and routines to promote consistent, uninterrupted sleep. You can read more in this Sleep Foundation resource Why Do We Need Sleep? [Tip: hold Ctrl and click a link to open it in a new tab. (Hide tip)] (2023b).

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A person laying down on the grass.