Sleep, fatigue and mental health
How well you sleep affects your mental and emotional wellbeing. At the same time, poor sleep can contribute to the onset, duration and recurrence of mental health issues. In other words, poor sleep can be both a cause and a consequence of mental health challenges.
Part of the Fatigue, sleep and mental health module.
Frequent sleep disturbances can increase the risk of mental health problems
Chronic sleep disturbance significantly increases the risk of mental health challenges such as depression, paranoia, anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder, hallucinations and even suicidal behaviours.
Brain activity during sleep affects emotions and mental health. Poor sleep disrupts how our brains process positive and negative experiences. This influences our moods and emotions and is tied to mental health disorders and their severity.
People with poor mental health are often poor sleepers too
Mental ill-health may be associated with persistent trouble falling asleep, having more disrupted sleep and waking too early in the morning. Sleep disorders such as sleep apnoea, circadian rhythm disruption, restless leg syndrome, excessive daytime sleepiness, sleepwalking and nightmares are all more common in people with mental health challenges.
Sometimes, ongoing sleep problems can be the first sign of a hidden or unknown mental health challenge.
Mental health problems can interact with sleep in different ways
- Anxiety can cause your thoughts to race, which can make it hard to sleep. Sleep problems can also become an added source of worry, creating anxiety at bedtime that makes it harder to sleep.
- Depression can lead to sleeping late or sleeping a lot during the day. It can also cause insomnia if you have troubling thoughts. Poor sleep may induce or exacerbate depression. For some people, improving sleep can reduce the symptoms of depression.
- Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) can cause nightmares or night terrors. These may wake you up or make you feel anxious about falling asleep. People with PTSD can also experience a state of being on alert, which can make it difficult to sleep. People with PTSD are less likely to get good REM sleep, and improving REM sleep can lessen the symptoms of PTSD.
- Mania can make you feel elated or energetic so you might not feel tired or want to sleep. You may also have racing thoughts that make it hard to sleep. Sleeping problems can also induce or worsen periods of mania.
- People with schizophrenia are more likely to experience insomnia and circadian rhythm disorders. Sleeping problems may be exacerbated by medications to treat schizophrenia.
- Medication can have side effects including insomnia or nightmares.
Chapter 6 outlines healthy sleeping strategies.
Good sleep reduces the likelihood of mental health challenges. Improving sleep often reduces the severity of mental health challenges.