What's the link between sleep and your mental health?

Sleep and mental health are closely linked, and the relationship runs in both directions. Many people who experience mental health difficulties also have trouble sleeping, and sleep problems that go on for long enough can start to affect mental health in turn.

How mental health can disturb sleep

• Stress and anxiety can keep the mind racing at bedtime, and can lead to nightmares or difficulty settling. Over time, a fear of not being able to sleep can become its own source of insomnia.

• Depression can make everyday responsibilities feel overwhelming, and some people respond by sleeping more, which brings its own fatigue and can make night-time sleep harder in turn. Others find depression brings on early waking with racing thoughts.

• Post-traumatic stress commonly disturbs sleep through nightmares that replay the traumatic event, which can create anxiety about falling asleep at all.

• Certain medications, including some antidepressants, can cause insomnia or disturbed sleep as a side effect, and stopping a medication can also temporarily unsettle sleep.

How poor sleep can affect mental health

The reverse is equally true. Sustained poor sleep can:

• Reduce your capacity to cope with ordinary demands, which can lower confidence and self-esteem over time

• Lead to withdrawing from social activity, through sheer fatigue, which can in turn contribute to loneliness

• Affect mood and energy in ways that, sustained long enough, edge toward depression or anxiety

• Make it harder to put anxious or negative thoughts into perspective

What to do about it

If sleep problems have been going on for weeks rather than days, and are affecting your daily life, that is worth raising with your GP rather than waiting for it to resolve on its own. If you already know the difficulty is connected to stress, anxiety or low mood, talking to someone at InsideOut® can address the underlying cause rather than only the sleep itself.