How Sleep Can Improve Your Mental Health –
A lot of people are sleep deprived. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Preventions, more than a third of American adults are not getting enough sleep on a regular basis.
Sleep disorders are common for people battling depression, anxiety, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), and bipolar disorder. Different kinds of sleep disorder affect 50 to 80% of patients in a normal psychiatric practice.
Sleep may not only help alleviate symptoms of mental health concerns, but it can also improve your well-being as well. Here are 5 mental health benefits of sufficient sleep.
Steers Away Depression
Sleep helps you steer away from anxiety and depression. According to Sleep Health Foundation, 60 to 90% of patients with depression have insomnia while approximately 20% of people suffering from depression have sleep apnea.
Sleep gives your brain some time to balance all the chemicals and hormones that affect your mood, emotions, and mental clarity. Getting a good night’s sleep can result in a more emotional stability.
Improves Mood
Getting 7 to 9 hours of sleep can improve your mood. A recent study concluded that lack of sleep can make it harder for you to regulate your emotions. Even a neutral event that you could easily manage may feel more intense without getting enough sleep.
A good night’s sleep can give you happier mood.
Enhances Focus
Sleep can help you remain more alert and sharp throughout the day. This can make your everyday tasks more manageable than what you will feel if you don’t have enough sleep.
Sleep deficiency can alter activity in some parts of your brain. If you do not have sleep, you may have trouble solving problems and making decisions. The Sleep on It, But Only if it is Difficult: Effects of Sleep on Problem Solving study posits that sleep can help the brain to solve difficult problems. The tests conducted on people who have enough sleep before trying to solve the problems showed that the increased ability to solve problems could occur after having enough sleep.
Cleanses The Mind
When you have trash in your house, you immediately take it out; sleep also takes the trash out of your brain.
When you sleep, the brain clears itself of toxins. A mouse study indicates that sleep flushes out toxins in the brain that builds up throughout the day. The glymphatic system helps remove the beta-amyloid from brain tissue. This toxic protein is known for accumulating in the brain of people with Alzheimer’s disease.
Having enough sleep can give the brain more time to remove toxins.
Improves Decision Making
The wisdom suggesting that you will “sleep on it” before making an important decision is true. Having a good sleep can help with your decision-making.
Sleep helps you organize your memory, process all the information you gather throughout the day and solve the problem. Sleep deprivation affects your self-control in two ways. First, it can reduce your capacity to exercise willpower. Secondly, it can diminish the energy your need for self-control. A person who does not have enough sleep may struggle to control impulses or behavior.
Sleep can enhance your decision-making skills and give you the capacity to exert self-control.
Lack of sleep is harmful not only on a personal level but can also affect you long term. Treatment of sleep deprivation and having a better sleep can improve your mental health. It can make you happier, help you focus on your everyday tasks, clears your mind, and enhances your decision-making skills.