Changes in your sleep habits or trends can hurt your health if you have problems with your mental health. In fact, between 50 and 80% of mental health people have trouble sleeping.
This article will talk about how mental health and sleep disorders are related, as well as the symptoms, ways to avoid them, and ways to treat them.
What Are The Different Disorders Associated With Sleep?
We’ve all had nights when it was hard to fall asleep or when we woke up more than once. Most sleep problems go away on their own in a month, but bad sleep for longer periods of time can have major effects on our lives. Here are some sleep problems individuals experience:
1. Insomnia:
One in five people have insomnia, which is the most common type of sleep problem. If you have trouble falling asleep, wake up several times during the night, or get up too early, you may have sleeplessness. During the day, you may feel tired, nervous, irritable, and unable to focus or remember things. Different insomnia therapies can help overcome this condition.
2. Sleep apnea:
Sleep apnea is when you stop and start breathing while you sleep, making it hard to get a good night’s sleep. If you have sleep apnea, you may snore loudly or make sounds like you are gasping for air or choking while you sleep. During the day, you’ll feel very tired, have trouble focusing, go through mood swings, and wake up with a headache.
3. Narcolepsy:
Narcolepsy can cause you to fall asleep unexpectedly and at inappropriate times. It is caused by the brain’s inability to regulate sleep and wake cycles. If you have narcolepsy, you may experience extreme drowsiness throughout the day and fall asleep abruptly and without warning, such as at work or while driving.
How Are Sleep And Mental Health Related?
During sleep, brain activity fluctuates, increasing and decreasing during various stages of the sleep cycle. During NREM (Non-rapid eye movement) sleep, brain activity decreases overall but there are brief energy surges. The rapid increase in brain activity during REM sleep explains why this stage is associated with more intense fantasizing.
When you get enough sleep, especially REM sleep, your brain is better able to handle emotional information. During sleep, the brain works to review and remember thoughts and memories, and it seems that not getting enough sleep makes it harder for positive emotional content to stick. This can affect your mood and how you respond to emotions and is linked to mental health disorders and how bad they are, including the risk of suicidal thoughts or actions.
Because of this, the old view, which said that sleep problems were signs of mental health problems, is becoming more and more difficult to defend. Instead, it is becoming clear there is a two-way link between sleep and mental health, and that sleeping problems can be both a cause and a result of mental health problems.
How Is Sleep Impacted By Mental Health?
There is no doubt that sleep and mental health go hand in hand. Mental health is affected by lack of sleep, and vice versa. One thing is certain: when our mental health is bad, so is our ability to sleep.
Clinicians used to think that sleep problems were signs of mental illness. Now, study shows that sleep problems may increase the risk of some psychiatric disorders and may even cause them directly. But it isn’t that easy. The connection between how well you sleep and how well you feel mentally is stronger and more difficult than ever.
Even though the connection is complicated, we do know the following:
- Mentally ill people are more likely to have sleep problems.
- Mental sickness can get worse and make it harder to deal with if you don’t get enough sleep.
- There’s a good chance that treating sleep problems will also help with mental health problems.
People with mental health problems often spend more time in lighter, less restful stages of sleep than in deep, healing REM sleep. If you are facing sleep issues visit the best psychiatric doctor in Coimbatore to help regulate your sleep cycle.
What Are The Few Mental Disorders That Affect The Human Sleep Cycle?
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ADHD:
Children with ADHD may have trouble going asleep or staying awake, trouble getting up in the morning or feel sleepy during the day.
People also think that problems with sleep may increase the chance of or even cause the development of symptoms that may look like ADHD. Studies have shown that helping people get more sleep can make ADHD symptoms less severe and improve their quality of life.
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Anxiety disorders:
Anxiety disorders may be more likely to happen if you have trouble sleeping. Studies found that sleep problems, such as restless sleep and trouble falling asleep, were linked to a higher chance of developing common mental disorders, such as anxiety disorders.
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Bipolar Disorder:
A lot of people with bipolar illness have trouble sleeping. Some of these problems are trouble sleeping, waking up at odd times, and having bad dreams.
Manic symptoms can also be caused by not getting enough sleep. Research shows that in 25% to 65% of people, changes in the usual sleep cycle happened before a manic episode.
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Depression:
Depression often causes insomnia and other sleep problems. Recent study has found that not getting enough sleep can actually cause depression.
How Much Sleep Is Required For Good Mental Health?
Adults require 7–9 hours of sleep per night, on average. About one-third of people say they have trouble sleeping at least once a week. People with insomnia have trouble going asleep or staying asleep, or they wake up too early in the morning.
When Should You Seek Help For Medical Help?
Talk to your sleep therapist about your symptoms if you think you might have a sleep problem or if you worry that not being able to sleep is affecting your mental health.
They may do a sleep study to find out more about your sleeping habits and suggest treatments for any sleep problems that might make it hard for you to get to sleep.
What Are The Treatment Options For Sleep Disorders And Mental Issues?
Some mental health problems can be helped by finding ways to improve how well and how long you sleep. This doesn’t mean that getting more sleep is a cure or a quick fix, but it can be an important part of a full treatment plan.
There are various options like,
– Medications
– Cognitive-behavioral therapy
– Light therapy
– Relaxation techniques
Reach out to sleep disorder treatment in Coimbatore, to get a specialized treatment for your condition.
Important Takeaway:
Changes in how you usually sleep can be a sign of some mental health problems. Sleep problems can also cause or make these illnesses worse. They can also have an effect on how well therapy for mental health problems work.
Having a sleep problem can be very hard, and it can make it hard for you to do things in your everyday life. Talk to your doctor if you are having trouble sleeping or if you aren’t getting enough sleep. They can help you figure out why you are having trouble sleeping.
