Sleep and mental health

Lack of sleep does not only affect your physical health, it has a huge impact on our mental health as well. Studies recommend that we each get 7-9 hours of sleep a day. But how many people really do?

It could be down to insomnia, or it could simply be the fact that your job disrupts your sleep pattern or you are just too busy to shut down. Whatever it is, it is still important and it is still a valid problem. Many people neglect the fact that something as simple as catching up with emails late at night could be affecting their mental health, but it really can have an impact.

Even the small levels of sleep deprivation over time can chip away at your happiness. You may start to feel less enthusiastic, more irritable, low or anxious. Changes to your mood may affect your life in other ways too, such as creating a different family dynamic.

The relationship between sleep and mood is complex because although disrupted sleep can lead to emotional changes, mental health conditions can also compound or further disrupt sleep.

Studies have shown that people with insomnia have greater levels of depression and anxiety than those who sleep normally. They are also 10 times as likely to have clinical depression and 17 times as likely to have clinical anxiety..")