Sleep and mental health
There's a close relationship between sleep and mental health. Living with a mental health problem can affect how well you sleep. And poor sleep can have a negative impact on your mental health.
During the day, my brain is fuzzy, my memory is noticeably affected. I barely have energy to function.
Types of sleep problem
Everyone needs sleep, but many of us have problems with it. For example, you might:
- Find it hard to fall asleep, stay asleep or wake up earlier than you'd like to – if this happens regularly, it's known as insomnia
- Have experiences that disturb your sleep, such as panic attacks, flashbacks, nightmares, psychosis, and mania or hypomania
- Find it hard to wake up or get out of bed
- Often feel tired or sleepy – this could be because you're not sleeping enough, not getting good quality sleep or because of health problems
- Sleep a lot, which could include sleeping at times when you want, or need, to be awake
Or you may have other difficulties with sleep that aren't mentioned here.
When I get depressed, I sleep so much. At its worst it was 18 hours a day, because it was the only way that I could stop thinking and stop my mind from saying awful things to me.
How sleep problems can affect mental health
If you have problems sleeping, this could make your mental health worse. Or it might cause other problems that impact your mental health.
For example, you might:
- Be more likely to feel anxious or depressed
- Be more likely to experience hallucinations
- Be more impacted by symptoms of existing mental health problems, such as mania, psychosis or paranoia
- Feel lonely or isolated – for example, if you don't have the energy to see people, or they don't seem to understand what you're going through
- Struggle to concentrate, or make plans and decisions
- Feel irritable or not have energy to do things
- Have problems with day to day life – for example, at work or with family and friends
- Be more affected by physical health problems
Causes of sleep problems
The things that affect our sleep differ for everyone. They can include:
- Stresses or worries – for example, issues with money, housing or work
- Problems with where you sleep – for example, if you sleep somewhere uncomfortable or unsafe, or where you're easily disturbed
- Health conditions relating to sleep, also known as sleep disorders
- Being a parent or carer
- Taking medication, including starting or coming off medication
- Using recreational drugs and alcohol
- Working at night or being a shift worker
- Current or past trauma
- Neurodiversity, for example ADHD or autism
- Mental health problems
- Physical health problems
Visit our pages on types of mental health problems to learn more about how specific mental health problems could affect your sleep.
For more information about sleep disorders, visit the Mental Health Foundation and Sleep Charity websites.
My sleep problems are more a case of bedtime procrastination than insomnia as such and, as a consequence, being too tired the next morning. I still haven't found out what works for me as I can get to sleep once I do get to bed.
How my sleep pattern highlighted my failing mental health
My sleep was the first red flag that started waving wildly to warn me that something was wrong.
Published: December 2024
Next review planned: December 2027
References and bibliography available on request.
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