The Link Between Mental Health Issues and Trouble Sleeping

Your mental health is vital to your quality of life and is a combination of your cognitive, behavioral, and emotional well-being, all important factors in productivity, personal growth, and sense of self. 

Mental illness is the general term for a range of diagnosable mental disorders. One in five people in America struggle with some form of mental illness at some point, and for around 5% it’s a serious problem. 

Mental health issues can affect basic functions, including the amount of quality sleep you get. If you live in the Chicago, Illinois, area and you’re struggling with sleep problems linked to mental health issues, our team of specialists at Michigan Avenue Primary Care can help. 

To better understand the connection between your mental health and the problems you may have sleeping, let’s look at common mental health issues, what effect they have on how you sleep, and what can be done to manage your issues.

Common mental conditions

There are several common mental health disorders people may not realize they have or for which they may not be getting proper treatment, including:

Anxiety disorders

Affecting nearly 20% of the population, these disorders deal with excessive fear, anxiety, and related behavioral issues that can worsen over time.

Bipolar disorders

These issues cause extreme shifts in your mood, behavior, energy, and ability to think clearly, and they affect almost 3% of Americans.

Depressive disorders 

Often just referred to as depression, these disorders take on many forms like major, prenatal, perinatal, persistent, and seasonal affective depression.

Dissociative disorders

These issues create a dissociation with one’s feelings, sense of self, or actions, and can disrupt memory, identity, perception, and behavior.

Eating disorders

Eating disorders create a preoccupation with weight like anorexia, bulimia, and binge eating, and can endanger your health in extreme cases.

Neurocognitive disorders

These are illnesses that lead to a decline in cognitive function and can cause memory loss, problems communicating, and issues doing basic tasks.

How mental health issues can affect sleep

The relationship between your mental health and your quality of sleep is complicated and layered — in many cases, the connection is reciprocal. Your lack of quality sleep can affect your mental state the following day, and many mental health issues can affect the amount of sleep you get due to the stress and other issues they cause. 

Depression can make you sleep for longer or shorter periods of time. Emotional outbursts from issues like ADHD can cause poor sleep, and many mental health issues can lead to insomnia, where you get little to no sleep.

Since both sleep and cognition are functions of your brain, the issues surrounding them can be inextricably linked in unexpected ways that may only worsen if not managed.

Options for management and treatment

Getting the proper treatment for your underlying mental health illness is vital to helping restore quality sleep and managing related issues, but here are some basic ways to try to improve your sleep:

Maintain a sleep schedule

Maintaining a regular sleep schedule where you go to bed and wake up around the same time each day can help keep your body in a natural rhythm and enhance your sleep quality.

Create a sleep environment

Controlling the temperature, lighting, and comfort of your mattress, pillows, and covers can help make going to sleep easier and faster.

Use natural light

Limiting the amount of artificial light you use close to bedtime helps sleep readiness.

Control your food and drink intake

Make sure to avoid anything heavy for at least two hours before you go to bed and eat something lighter in that time to avoid digestion issues that could interfere with your sleep. Also avoid caffeine, nicotine, and alcohol before bed.

Stress management

Reducing stress is important in making you more ready for sleep when you go to bed, so use exercises and self-calming methods to lower your cortisol levels.

Mental health and sleep are closely linked. If one is affecting the other in your life, help is available to manage the problem. Make an appointment with our specialists at Michigan Avenue Primary Care today to get on your way to better sleep. Call our office today or schedule your visit online anytime.