Prioritising sleep and our mental health

In this fast-paced world, we often allow crucial aspects of our health like sleep and mental wellness to fall by the wayside. While the increased hours of productivity and wakefulness can reap good results in the short term, it will eventually harm us, taking a massive toll on our bodies and minds. Prioritising sleep and our mental health will certainly reap rewards in the longer term.

For instance, poor sleep can create difficulties in regulating our emotions—leaving us more susceptible to mental health problems in the future.

The harms of sleep deprivation don’t stop there. We may also find it increasingly difficult to concentrate on daily tasks, recover from illnesses, and generally approach our day-to-day life in a positive mood.

Having said that, there’s ample reason for you to consider prioritising good sleeping habits.

But if you have specific impediments in sleeping soundly, such as the presence of an underlying sleep condition, then you’ll need to sort that out first.

Want more actionable and helpful tips? Read on for six helpful ways you can fit proper sleep into your tight nightly routine.

1. Treat Underlying Sleep Disorders

Do you find yourself frequently tossing and turning at night? Does your partner complain about your loud and incessant snoring? Or do you frequently wake up in the middle of the night gasping for air?

If you’re dealing with any of these symptoms, then you may have an underlying sleep disorder that’s affecting your sleep quality. Insomnia is one of the most common sleep conditions that makes it feel near-impossible to sleep, even if you’re exhausted from the day’s activities.

Another common health disorder that people may face is sleep apnea, a condition in which fatty tissue obstructs your throat, causing a blockage that prevents oxygen from entering your brain and other organs.

In both of these cases, you must talk with a sleep specialist to help you deal with these problems. They can assess your situation and prescribe the most relevant treatments to help you deal with your specific case.

For example, insomnia patients can be prescribed cognitive behavioural therapy to address the root concern of their insomnia. Sleep apnea patients may be prescribed a CPAP machine, which has the remarkable ability to automatically detect whether or not you stop breathing throughout the night, ensuring timely intervention and maintaining continuous airway pressure to support uninterrupted breathing.

2. Establish a Strict Sleep Schedule

On average, it takes two months for a routine to stick. Thus, if you want to automatically sleep at a specific time each night, then you should consider having a formally-assigned sleep schedule that you abide by.

For instance, you can start winding down by 9:30 PM and formally try to sleep as soon as you lay in bed. Refrain from deviating from this time as much as possible.

To make the task even easier, try to flesh out an entire bedtime routine that culminates in that one-on-one time with your bed. If you like lighting up scented candles or taking a warm bubble bath every night, do so during specific times a night. And, to reinforce the sleep habit, do it consistently!

Need to check work emails? Ensure that you allocate screen-related activities at least an hour before bedtime and try to avoid bringing smartphones to bed.

By being consistent with your sleeping schedule, not only are you forming a good habit, but you’re also improving all facets of your health in the long run. This, in turn, can improve your mental health profoundly.

3. Create a Distraction-Free Environment

If you’re finding it hard to sleep in your room, it’s likely that it’s because your place isn’t conducive to a sound sleep environment.

The accessibility of smartphones and the constant vibrations or sound effects they play can contribute to keeping you awake far longer than you should.

Besides that, your own room could also be working against you. Lights streaming from the curtains or doors, hot air keeping you sweaty, and all these minor kinks can lead you to stay awake in bed for hours.

To fix this, design your room to be more conducive to sleep. Purchase a blackout curtain and a door sealing strip and set them up in your room to prevent unwanted access to outside light.

Automatically set your phone in Do Not Disturb mode once you enter a specific time of the night.

And if you’re not cosy, turn up the aircon or heater to a reasonable temperature. If you’re saving electricity, simply set it in timer mode. By doing all these things, you can create a more peaceful and sleep-positive environment.

4. Perform Relaxation Techniques

Before bed, you should ideally be in a calm and relaxed mood. Try as much as you can to prevent bringing the stresses of the day into your cosy mattress.

But for most people, that’s easier said than done, especially given the volume of responsibilities of daily life.

To help you get in the mood, consider performing relaxation techniques like progressive muscle relaxation and deep breathing exercises to help you fall asleep.

Progressive muscle relaxation is all about body mindfulness. Start by breathing in and tensing a specific set of your muscles for 5 to 10 seconds. This can be either the arms, hands, legs, feet, chest, back, or parts of the face—anything that you can tense is fine.

Then once the 10 seconds are up, relax your muscles for 20 seconds then move to the next group of muscles.

Breathing techniques are also highly effective. One breathing exercise that’s proven to be useful is the 4-7-8 breathing technique. In this method, you inhale with your nose for 4 seconds, hold it for 7 seconds, and then exhale with your mouth for 8 seconds. Repeat until sleepy.

5. Eat Right and Avoid Caffeine

What you eat has profound effects on your health and sleeping ability. As such, you should try to incorporate certain foods into your diet to prepare your mind and body to get in a sleeping mood come nighttime.

What are these foods, you may ask? Well, typically whole-grain carbohydrates, heart-healthy fats, lean proteins, and fresh herbs all have positive effects on both your health and your ability to sleep.

Conversely, if sleeping is your priority, you’d want to watch out and avoid certain types of food too, especially close to nighttime. Refined sugars, coffee, and spicy foods are no-nos before bed as they can keep your body active and restless for a few hours after consumption.

Just in general, be sure to space out your supper time from your sleeping time by at least two hours. Your stomach is still hard at work digesting your contents directly after you finish eating, so you want to ensure that you’ve given it enough time to do its thing before you wind down for bed, lest you suffer from GI issues like heartburn or reflux.

6. Exercise Regularly

Exercising may seem like the direct opposite of relaxing, but hear us out. Giving your muscles a good workout is a good way to get your brain to release chemicals like oxytocin and endorphins.

These chemicals combat anxiety and stress, which can make sleeping much more achievable.

Furthermore, physical activity can also cause fatigue and tiredness, making it easier to enter restorative stages of sleep like deep sleep. This can make you feel more energised the following morning, particularly if you get more than 7 hours of sleep.

Any type of exercise will have a positive effect on your sleep and mental health. But if you want to gun for the best outcomes, then give cardiovascular activities like running, swimming, and cycling a shot at least 150 minutes a week. It’ll pay dividends later in life.

Conclusion

You may feel as if you are acheiving more in a day if you reduce sleep time, but longer term that could be damaging. Please always remember the importantance of prioritising sleep and our mental health.

Source: healthylifeessex.co.uk