Mental Health
26
ISSUE 14 | May 2022
BETTER MENTAL AND PHYSICAL HEALTH
The POWER of good sleep MINDSET | MARCUS WHEAN E always hear that you “gotta get your 8 hours of sleep”. But in actual fact, what we have to get, is the right amount of sleep for us to feel rested, alert and focussed. The eight hours thing comes from medical marketing in the USA in the 1980’s. Yes, it’s true that most of us need around eight hours sleep, but it’s unhelpful to think it’s the be-all and end-all. It's about quality not quantity. Quality sleep is integral to health. Our bodies can fail and even die sooner from lack of sleep than from lack of food and water. It would seem sleep is pretty important. It is also a huge predictor and precipitant to mental ill-health. We know that stress and depression can be both caused by, and worsened by, poor sleep. Sleep quality is a big indicator and symptom of stress. Stress impacts sleep. Impacted sleep can lead to mental and physical health conditions. With sleep being such an important part of good overall health, why is it that so many of us struggle with it? I for one have struggled with my sleep at times. It can also be so confusing and frustrating to have sleep difficulties especially if and when we are leading busy lives and end up tired – we go to bed feeling tired yet hit the pillow and our minds decide it’s time to think on
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overdrive and try-as-we-might, sleep just ain’t happening. Here’s some points to understand about sleep and some tips to help. This is what I follow and what I suggest with my clients. Firstly, we sleep in phases; usually around 75-90 minutes in length and there are different phases over the course of normal sleep period. Basically, more REM sleep then more deep sleep. Deep sleep is where the most restful gains are made but REM is also important. So, ideally we want to have at least around five phases, which is equal to around 6.25 to 7.5 hours sleep minimum. We can gauge how good the sleep has been by our alertness, energy and focus levels. Also, there’s two main sleeper types – morning types and evening types. This means where are you most alert/awake? In the morning and thus likely to sleep and wake earlier. Or in the evening and feel more alert and active in the afternoon/evening and go to bed later. The challenge we have is matching our body’s clocks with our social clocks EG work and school start times. If you need to align your body with your social clock, then it’s best to reset it from the time you want to wake up. It usually doesn’t help or work to try and go to sleep earlier just to get your 8 hours so you can be up earlier.
Go to bed when you normally do or naturally fall asleep and get up at the desired time. You may be tired for the first few days or weeks, but your body clock will reset in time. You must also be consistent with your sleep onset and wake up times. If you like a sleep-in on the weekends try not to sleep in or stay up later than 1-2 hours past your normal time. If you stay up or wake up past 2 hours from your normal time you run the risk of resetting your body clock and have sleep difficulties.
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Here's some good simple practices to follow to help ensure regular restful sleep:
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1. Only go to bed/sleep when you feel ‘sleepy’ i.e. like you could sleep. Don’t go to bed because you think you ‘should’ – because you gotta get your eight hours. 2. Don’t be in bed longer than half an hour if not asleep. Get up, do something relaxing or quiet like listen to quiet music, journal, or read a book. Then retry once you feel sleepy. 3. Bed is for sleeping not for phones, worrying, thinking and not sleeping. We don’t want to develop a negative association with bed and not being asleep. 4. When you want to go to bed and feel sleepy, start to calm and re-
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lax – setup a sleep routine. TV off, phone away, darken your house and room. Do a bit of journaling before bed to dump your thoughts getting them out of your head. Listen to relaxing music, do a meditation before bed. Try not to maintain these old beliefs about getting eight hours. Listen to your body and tune into what you need as a minimum in terms of hours and what works best in terms of sleep onset and wakeup times. Keep your bedroom dark, no phones, lights or even clocks. If you wake prematurely try not to check phones and time as these can trigger mild stress reactions. Keep fluids and food intake to a minimum at least an hour before bed to prevent unnecessary waking to use the toilet. If problem persists see your GP and ask their advice or make an appointment to see a psychologist with experience with sleep disorders.
Marcus Whelan is a Registered Psychologist and Mental Fitness Coach with 10+ years’ experience in private practice. He holds undergraduate and postgraduate degrees in psychology and education. Visit: www.marcuswhelanpsychology.com.au
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