Sleep Priority

Sleep should be our big priority

How are you sleeping? Is that a scary question? I hope not. We often suggest to people who are concerned about someone’s mental health that they start by asking it.

Sleep in one of those things we might take for granted. Some people think it’s macho to not need as much seep as other people. “I’ll sleep when I’m dead”. But sleep is often one of the first things to go wrong when someone is struggling with their mental health.

Poor sleep is also an early warning signal that you might be experience stress. If the cause of the stress is not address, that’s when we’re in danger of moving along the mental health continuum.

We need, as adults, around eight hours sleep each night. That might seem a lot to some people. Margaret Thatcher famously slept for only four hours a night, according to her press secretary and others. There is no hard and fast rule – the most important thing is to feel refreshed after sleep.

At the moment, about two thirds of the population of Suffolk say they do not feel refreshed after sleep. Suffolk Mind reports that means as much as two in every three of us are stressed; it’s also a public health issue.

Poor sleep is associated with suicidal ideation, the development of personality disorders, and, in later life, dementia. In fact, the difference between an average eight hours and six hours sleep while in your 50s, 60s and 70s is an increase of 30% in your risk of dementia in your 80s.

AS well as; being important for physical and mental health, sleep is also one of the more straightforward (but not easy) things to fix. It takes time, patience and effort but there are some simple steps you can take to improve your sleep.

Reducing caffeine intake is an obvious one. Also consider reducing screen time, especially before bed and no ‘blue lights’ in the bedroom. Certainly, don’t have your phone nearby when you’re sleeping.

Your bedroom should, ideally, be around 19 degrees centigrade. Try to have a routine around bedtime so that your brain gets used to knowing when it’s meant to start falling asleep; go to bed at the same time; and complete all your ablutions in the same order.

If you read to empty your mind of the day’s events before sleep, ty not to choose an exciting/riveting book. Possibly the most important way to get better sleep is to deal with your waking concerns before sleep, or get help to deal with them.
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