It started with mild anxiety.
Emily, who asked to be identified only by her first name because she was talking about her mental health, had just finished graduate school and moved to New York City to take a marketing job at a major law firm.
She knew it was normal to be a little irritated. But she wasn't prepared for what happened next: chronic insomnia.
Operating on only 3-4 hours of sleep, it didn't take long for her anxiety to increase. When she was 25, she said, she was “extremely nervous all the time. I'm a wreck.”
One day, when a lawyer at her firm yelled at her, she experienced the first of many panic attacks. At her doctor's recommendation, she tried taking her sleeping pills in hopes that they might be able to “reset” her sleep cycle and improve her mood. It didn't work.
Americans are chronically sleep-deprived, with one-third of adults saying they get less than seven hours of sleep. The situation is even worse for teenagers, with about 70 percent of high school students not getting enough sleep on school nights.
And it has a serious impact on mental health.
An analysis of 19 studies found that while sleep deprivation worsens a person's ability to think clearly and perform certain tasks, it has an even more negative effect on mood. And when the National Sleep Foundation conducted a survey in 2022, half of those who said they got less than seven hours of sleep on weekdays also reported having symptoms of depression. Some studies show that addressing insomnia may help prevent postpartum depression and anxiety.
It's clear that sleep is important. But despite the evidence, there continues to be a shortage of psychiatrists and other doctors trained in sleep medicine, leaving many to educate themselves.
So what happens to our mental health if we don't get enough sleep and what can we do about it?
How does lack of sleep affect your mood?
Aric Prather, a sleep researcher at the University of California, San Francisco, who works with insomniacs, said that when people have trouble sleeping, the way they experience stress and negative emotions changes. “And for some people, this can have a feedforward effect. Feeling sick, ruminating, and feeling stressed can end up going into the night,” he says. says.
Carly Demler, 40, a stay-at-home mom from North Carolina, said she went. I went to bed one night and couldn't sleep.. After that, she stayed up until 3 or 4 a.m. at least once a week for over a year.
She became irritable, less patient and much more anxious.
Hormone blood tests and sleep studies performed in university labs didn't provide answers. Even after taking Ambien, she stayed up most nights. “My anxiety was like a fire that somehow jumped the fence and somehow spread into my night,” she said. “I felt like I had no control,” she said.
In the end, it was Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Insomnia, or CBT-I, that brought Demmler the most relief. Studies have shown that CBT-I. is more effective than sleeping pills in the long run. As many as 80% of people who try it experience improved sleep.
Demmler learned not to “lay in bed and panic.” Instead, she gets up and reads her book to avoid associating her bedroom with anxiety, and returns to bed when she's tired.
“I don't think the feeling of gratitude you have every morning when you wake up and feel well-rested will ever go away,” she said. “It was an unexpected ray of hope.”
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, adults need seven to nine hours of sleep a night. Teenagers and young children need even more.
It's not just a matter of quantity. Sleep quality is also important. For example, if it takes him more than 30 minutes to fall asleep, or if he wakes up frequently during the night, it will be difficult for him to feel rested, regardless of how much time he spends in bed.
However, says Lynn Bufka, a clinical psychologist and spokesperson for the American Psychological Association, “Even if you're sleepy during the day or have difficulty concentrating, people tend to think they're functioning well.'' ” some people say.
Ask yourself how you feel throughout the day. Do you find yourself becoming more impatient or easily angered? Are you having more negative thoughts or feeling anxious or depressed? Have you found it difficult to cope with stress? Work Do you think it is difficult to do it efficiently?
If so, it's time to take action.
How to stop the cycle.
We've all heard how important it is to practice sleep hygiene and develop daily habits that promote healthy sleep. It is also important to consult your doctor to rule out any physical problems that need to be addressed, such as thyroid disease or restless leg syndrome.
But this is only part of the solution.
Conditions such as anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder, and bipolar disorder can make it difficult to sleep, which can exacerbate symptoms of mental illness and result in difficulty getting a good night's sleep.
“The cycle is becoming very difficult to break,” Dr. Bufka said.
Certain medications, including psychiatric drugs such as antidepressants, can also cause insomnia. Dr. Ramaswamy Viswanathan, a professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at the State University of New York Downstate Health, says if a drug is the culprit, consider switching to a different drug, taking it earlier in the day, or lowering the dose. Please consult your doctor regarding this. President-Elect of the College of Sciences and the American Psychiatric Association.
This cycle of worrying making your sleep worse and lack of sleep making your mood worse can afflict even people without mental illness.
Emily, who worked at a major law firm, was so worried that she wouldn't be able to sleep that she didn't want to go to bed.
“You start to really believe, 'I'm never going to sleep,'” she says. “It's impossible because the adrenaline is so high.”
Eventually, she discovered Greg D. Jacobs' Good Night for Insomniacs. Books that use CBT-I. This technique helped Emily rethink the way she thinks about sleep. She wrote down her negative thoughts in her diary and started changing them into positive thoughts. For example: “What would you do if you could never sleep again?” “Your body is designed to sleep. Even if you don't get enough rest one night, you will eventually.” It helped stop her devastating symptoms.
Once she started sleeping again, she felt “much happier.”
Nearly 20 years after moving to New York, at age 43, she still relies on the techniques she learned and takes the book with her whenever she travels. If she's away from home and can't sleep well, “I'll catch up on it for a few days if I need to,” she said. “I'm much more relaxed about it.”
