Everyone knows sleep is good for you, but not everyone knows how important it is. So, I'm taking an abnormal psychology class right now, and we spent an entire day just learning about sleeping disorders. I was surprised to learn that extreme sleep deprivation can bring about symptoms of depression, anxiety, and even strong hallucinations. Our bodies need sleep to heal our bodies, to grow, to learn, to avoid illness, and to let our brain recover after the day. Knowing this, it seems almost cruel that depression and anxiety -- along with many other mental illnesses -- cause insomnia. Of course treating anxiety and depression helps restore sleep, but interestingly, more sleep helps people face their daily battles with depression and anxiety. So here is a suggestion for how to improve your sleep quality. It seems kinda counter-intuitive, but it's surprisingly effective:
Estimate:
Make a rough guess of time you spend actually asleep. --Let's say that on a typical night Wanda goes to bed at 9, takes three hours to fall asleep, spends half of the night tossing and turning, and then just lies in bed half-awake from 4 until 8. If you are like Wanda, you may be getting as little as 2-3 hours of sleep every night. That is nowhere close to enough!
Routine:
Setting a routine is vital. It's what professionals call sleep hygiene. Ideally, you should go to bed and wake up at the same time every night. By doing this, you let your internal clock form a consistent pattern: this makes it easier to fall sleep and wake up. It is also very important that you use your bed only for sleep. Here are some other good sleep hygiene practices. One key one is if you can't fall asleep within 15 minutes, get up to do something relaxing, such as stretching, reading, or taking a walk (please be safe).
Reduce:
This may seem counter-intuitive, but one of the first steps is to cut the amount of time you spend in bed. Cut it all the way down to the same amount of time you were spending asleep. For Wanda (the example), that means she spends only 3 hours in bed every night.
Rest:
The first several nights will no doubt feel like they will kill you. You will probably be ready to fall asleep throughout the day, but if you can, you must only sleep in bed. Eventually you will be able to fall asleep within 15 minutes and sleep through the full 3 hours. Congratulations! You are now getting the exact same amount of sleep you were getting before we started :P You may already feel a little better, because now your sleep is uninterrupted.
Increase:
This part we will do in stages. Steadily increase the amount of time you spend in bed. Increase by increments of 30 minutes. You know yourself best, so you pick the rate of increase. You can up it once every 1, 2, 3, or 4 weeks. Make sure that you continue practicing good sleep hygiene!
Evaluate:
One of the first questions you should ask yourself is: Do I still have major troubles sleeping at night? If the answer is yes, you should go see a doctor or psychologist. If not, then congrats!
I hope this has helped in some way. Sorry it reads super cheesy :P But I thought it might be able to help someone, which is really all that matters. Good luck!
