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Articles written by clinicians for everyday living
How Sleep Impacts Your Mental Health and What to do About It
Having Struggles Sleeping? Change your sleep routine to change your quality of sleep. How many nights do you struggle falling asleep? Do you ever wish you could just lay down and fall asleep quickly? Your sleep routine may be the reason why you are not getting quality sleep and having a difficult time falling asleep at night.
Why is sleep so important? “Sufficient sleep, especially REM sleep, facilitates the brain’s processing of emotional information. During sleep, the brain works to evaluate and remember thoughts and memories, and it appears that a lack of sleep is especially harmful to the consolidation of positive emotional content.” (Sleep Foundation, 2022). Sleep plays a role in the brains ability to think, learn and in short term and long-term memory. Sleep issues can be both a cause of mental health issues, and a result of mental health issues. Research has found that sleep plays a large role in the wellbeing of patients with depression, seasonal affective disorder, anxiety disorders, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, ADHD, and autism spectrum disorder.
Here are some tips to help you change the way you end your day and hopefully help you to have a more restful night waking up feeling better than ever.
Determine a schedule. Try and find a consistent time you can go to bed each night that is the same, or almost the same, nightly. This will help your body to know when your “bedtime” is and will help with allowing your body to shut down at night making falling asleep quicker and easier.
Create a relaxing, comfortable, calm environment in your bedroom. Turn on soft lighting, turn off electronics at least 30 minutes before you plan to go to sleep, keep noises to a minimum (this can be difficult with children), and diffuse calming scents.
Get up and move around after 20 minutes of not falling asleep. Get out of bed, go to another room that is quiet, has dimmed lights and participate in a calming activity. Staying in bed after not falling asleep for long durations can create connections in your brain saying, “this is not a peaceful place, this is not comfortable, I am never going to be able to fall asleep here”.
Create a routine. Do the same things in the same order before bed. Just like number 1, this helps your body to know its time to rest. By creating a routine your body learns that this is the end of the day, this is when we get to lay down, rest and get re-energized for tomorrow. This routine can look like; turning down the lights, changing into nighttime wear, brushing teeth, taking nighttime medications, washing your face, and reading for 10 minutes.
Use your bed for the two S’s. Sleep and sex. When the bed is used for other things, video gaming, watching television, talking, using electronics, or even eating, the mind gets mixed signals as to what the body is supposed to do in that place.
Watch what you eat before bed. Do not eat large meals close to bedtime, stick with small snacks and small amounts of water. The body has a difficult time shutting down when it must digest large amounts of food, give your body a break and keep the meals earlier in the day.
Keep fluids to a minimum. Alcohol and caffeine can make it difficult to fall asleep or sleep restfully. Have a plan to limit these beverages before your expected time to go to bed.
Lastly, attempt to get some type of physical activity in throughout your day. This can be a walk (5 minutes is better than 0), doing crunches and pushups during breaks at work, playing with your children, or using the stairs instead of an elevator.
Talk to your health care provider if you continue having sleep issues, there may be other things going on that need to be evaluated.
Resource:
Mental health and sleep. Sleep Foundation. (2022, November 4). Retrieved November 14, 2022, from https://www.sleepfoundation.org/mental-health#:~:text=Sufficient%20sleep%2C%20especially%20REM%20sleep,consolidation%20of%20positive%20emotional%20content.
One example of perseveration is hyperfocus. Hyperfocus is the ability to focus intensely on a task or activity that is interesting or stimulating, often to the point of losing track of time. While hyperfocus can be a valuable asset in certain situations, it can also be a hindrance when it interferes with our ability to switch tasks or prioritize our responsibilities.
Another example of this is rumination. Rumination is the tendency to dwell on negative thoughts or experiences, and to have difficulty letting them go. This can lead to feelings of anxiety, depression, and low self-esteem, and can interfere with our ability to enjoy life and pursue our goals.
This behavior can also manifest as difficulty with transitions. A person may struggle to shift their attention from one task to another, or to adapt to changes in the environment or routine. This can be especially challenging in social situations, where they may have difficulty following social cues or adjusting to new social norms.
How to Help the Person who Perseverates
Recognize the problem and remain patient. Do not erroneously put perseverative behavior down to the person being difficult.
If the perseverative behavior is not causing any danger or distress to the person or anyone else in the vicinity, just waiting and letting the behavior eventually come to an end may be helpful.
Give simple, clear, specific instructions regarding what the person needs to do to stop the perseverative action. Provide instructions one step at a time. For example, in order to help a person who is perseverating on putting salt on their food you could:
Say their name.
Hold out your hand.
Ask to ‘pass the salt’.
Ask to stretch their arm to you.
Ask to put salt in your hand.
Ask to loosen their fingers etc.
When the person manages to stop/switch a perseverative response, always reinforce e.g. say ‘thanks’ or ‘well done’.
Address issues of fatigue, anxiety, stress, distress, or ill health. Seek appropriate medical or other specialist advice.
When you find yourself perseverating on something, it can be challenging to break out of that cycle of repetitive thinking.
However, there are some strategies that can be helpful:
Identify triggers: Try to pay attention to what triggers the rumination. For example, if I find myself perseverating on a mistake I made at work, I might try to identify what specifically triggered that thought. Was it a conversation with a coworker? Seeing a particular email? Once I identify the trigger, I can try to avoid or minimize it in the future.
Set aside time to worry: If you give yourself a specific time to worry or think about something, it can help break out of the cycle of repetitive thinking. For example, I might set aside 10 minutes in the morning to think about a problem I’m facing, and then try to move on with my day.
Practice mindfulness: Mindfulness meditation can be a helpful tool for breaking out of perseveration.
Engage in a distracting activity: Sometimes, the best way to break out of perseveration is to engage in a distracting activity. This could be anything from going for a walk to watching a movie to doing a puzzle. The key is to find something that requires enough mental engagement to take your mind off of whatever you’re perseverating on.
Overall, breaking out of perseveration can be challenging, but with practice and patience, it is possible to break the cycle of repetitive thinking.
Ensure the person understands that work not completed within an initial time period can be completed at a later time. Help the person achieve closure by ensuring adequate time is provided.
Provide adequate time for a person to complete activities then as success is achieved, gradually decrease the amount of time allocated.
Create time limits at key junctures of assignments so that the person knows how long they have to complete the task and the pace they need to progress at.
Provide opportunities for transition between activities so that behavior adjustments can be made.
Have the person use a timer so they can self-monitor both their progress and behaviors throughout the assignment progression.
Monitor the person’s behaviors to ensure the person does not get stimulated by activities to the extent that they lose control over their behaviors.
Design relaxation activities during periods of transition to reduce the effects of stimulating activities. For example, relaxing music and reading.
Plan and communicate the daily schedule at the beginning of each day so that all person knows what to expect and can plan for it.