How can sleep affect your mental health?
Most people can deal with one bad night’s sleep. However, if you’re suffering from multiple bad nights in a row, the lack of sleep can have a negative effect on your mental health. People who already suffer from certain mental health conditions are also more likely to report struggles with sleep. Multiple studies have proven that there is a strong link between sleep and wellbeing, and yet more people than ever admit to having sleep problems. Here we discuss how lack of sleep might be affecting your mental health:
Stress
Stressful situations are hard enough to deal with at the best of times, and we all know that life is full of them. Even the smallest stresses seem difficult to deal with when you have not had enough sleep, and you might find yourself feeling irritated and frustrated over the small everyday hassles. It can also be a cyclical issue – not sleeping makes you feel stressed, so you’ll stress about not sleeping, and inevitably making the issue worse.
Depression
Many people who struggle to sleep already suffer from depression, however, lack of sleep can also increase the likelihood of developing the condition. It’s important to address any sleep issues early on to lower the risk of this. Like lack of sleep, depression can have a negative effect on a person’s ability to function in everyday life.
Anxiety
While problems with sleep can also stem from having anxiety, you’re more likely to develop this condition if your sleep issue goes untreated. This can become particularly frustrating if you find yourself feeling anxious about sleeping, which can be a very negative and counterproductive thought process. Coping with feeling anxious can be much harder to deal with when you’re feeling tired, meaning the disorder could be prolonged. Sleep deprivation is also thought to contribute to the maintenance and development of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
Reinforced Beds
Here at Reinforced Beds, we want to help. If you are caring for someone with a mental health condition or disability, make sure to take a look at our range of Challenging Behaviour Mattresses. We are dedicated and experienced in providing the best quality mattresses to suit those with specialist needs. As well as the issues listed above, we work closely with experts on other conditions such as ADHD, autism and Asperger’s. Whatever the condition may be, we aim to supply a heavy-duty mattress that can help. For further advice, don’t hesitate to contact us.