To Improve Your Mood, Start with Sleep

On the whole, Americans are not getting enough sleep … and waking up on the wrong side of the bed.

According to an article in The New York Times, one-third of U.S. adults report getting less than 7 hours a night. And teens? The statistics are significantly worse: About 70 percent of high school students are not getting enough sleep on school nights.

The lack of sleep is impacting mental health.

A meta-analysis of 19 studies discovered that sleep deprivation makes it harder to think clearly, to perform tasks, but worst of all, it negatively impacts mood. Data from the National Sleep Foundation’s 2022 survey showed that half of those who slept less than 7 hours a night during the week reported experiencing depressive symptoms.

How much sleep do we need?

While adults need 7 to 9 hours of sleep each night, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, kids and teens require even more. School-aged kids need 9 to 12 hours a night. And the CDC recommends that teens (ages 13 to 18) get 10 to 12 hours of sleep per night.

What about sleep quality?

It’s not just the hours logged in bed that count. Sleep quality matters as well. Taking longer than 3o minutes to fall asleep, repeatedly waking at night, or lying awake for longer than 20 minutes when you do are all signs you are suffering from poor sleep quality. And poor sleep quality, according to the Sleep Foundation, can impair your focus, worsen your mood, and put you at increased risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease.

How does lack of sleep impact mental health?

Lack of sleep affects how people experience stress and negative emotions, according to Aric Prather, a sleep researcher at the University of California, San Francisco, who treats patients with insomnia. “And for some, this can have a feed-forward effect — feeling bad, ruminating, feeling stressed can bleed into our nights,” he explained.

After a poor night of sleep, you may feel more impatient, quick to anger, less able to fend off negative thoughts, anxious or depressed. You might have a hard time focusing on your work or being productive.

Sound like you? If you’re struggling with your sleep and the negative effects, what can you do about it?

What can we do to get more sleep?

Develop good sleep hygiene – Just as we brush our teeth to keep them healthy, there are things we can do (and things we can avoid) to improve the quality and quantity of our sleep.

Exercising and getting enough light during the day, avoiding stimulants after lunch, establishing a bedtime routine, avoiding large meals and alcohol before bed, rewatching a show rather than engaging with a new one, turning off electronics an hour before bed, and keeping the room dark and cool all help you sleep better.

Evaluate medications that might interfere with sleep – Some medications like antidepressants can interfere with your sleep. Talk to your doctor if that is the case, said Dr. Ramaswamy Viswanathan, incoming president of the American Psychiatric Association. Your doctor may adjust the dose, change the time of day you take the medicine, or choose another prescription altogether.

Try Cogntive Behavioral Therapy for Insomnia (CBTI) – Many people benefit from cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia, or CBTI, which not only promotes good sleep hygiene (or habits) but addresses anxieties and negative thought patterns about sleep. It helps people change their beliefs about their ability to sleep. Studies have shown CBTI to be more effective than sleep medications long term. Up to 80 percent of the people who try it report improvements in their sleep.

Using these techniques, instead of lying awake in bed, worrying about not being able to go back to sleep, you might leave the bedroom and read until you get tired.

Reframe the way you think about sleep – The book Say Goodnight to Insomnia by Gregg D. Jacobs uses CBTI techniques to help you understand the thoughts about sleep that are affecting your ability to sleep. You might write down your negative thoughts in a journal and reframe them into more realistic, positive ones. “What if I never fall asleep and lie here awake all night?” can be changed to “My body is designed to sleep. If I don’t get enough sleep tonight, I will eventually get enough rest.” Reframing helps prevent you from catastrophizing and creating greater anxiety, which only keeps you revved up and awake.

Read the full article here.

Or learn more tips on good sleep hygiene.

Caron, Christina. “Your First Step Toward a Better Mood.” The New York Times, 19 Feb 2024, https://www.nytimes.com/2024/02/19/well/mind/sleep-mental-health-insomnia.html.