Why Good Sleep Is Important to Mental Health
Have you ever wondered why getting a good night’s sleep is so important? What is happening inside of us when we fall asleep every night? Is there more to the story than simply feeling either tired or rested?
Many people fail to recognize how impactful sleep deprivation can be. In this article, I hope to raise awareness of this crucial topic in order to provide greater insight into something that is foundational to both physical and mental health.
What sleep does for the body and mind
First, let’s look at why is sleep so important for our bodies. Sleep restores the brain and the body and allows it to recover from the stress of each day. For many of us, life is a whirlwind of busyness. Bedtime is the period of the day where a person can finally stop and rest, free from the demands of life. As we drift into sleep the body begins its own work of restoring us on a cellular level. Stress levels drop, the heart slows, and the body spends the night repairing itself so it can face the challenges of tomorrow.
But sometimes it doesn’t go so smoothly. When we stay up too late, wake up too early, drink too much caffeine, or get woken up throughout the night, that crucial restorative process gets interrupted. When the body is unable to relax and repair itself fully because it didn’t get enough consistent sleep, this is known as sleep deprivation. While we may notice ourselves feeling tired and lethargic the next day, even deeper than that, sleep deprivation is wreaking havoc inside the body.
When we are sleep deprived, the “fight-or-flight” response in the nervous system has not turned off and the body remains alert and ready to handle any threat. Why is this bad? Well, when our sympathetic nervous system is activated, something is making us feel threatened. The body is flooded with adrenaline and releases a hormone called cortisol to respond to the stressor.
While this response is phenomenal for protecting us from harm, we can’t stay in this mode forever; we have to return to a state of rest. When we don’t get enough sleep, our body responds by activating its fight-or-flight even though there isn’t a physical threat. The threat is a lack of sleep.
In other words, getting good sleep allows our bodies and our minds to get the healing recovery they need.
The snowball effect
An overactive sympathetic nervous system begins a snowball effect in our bodies even after just one night of poor sleep. From the heart to the immune system to metabolism and more, each part of the body feels the weight of sleep deprivation (Walker, 2017). Studies have shown that even the reproductive system is impacted; men experience lower levels of testosterone and a lower sperm count while women may have fertility problems and an increased risk of miscarriage. The risk of a heart attack is increased due to accelerated heart rate, increased blood pressure, and blockage in arteries. Digesting food (especially sugar) becomes a challenge, which escalates a person’s risk of developing type 2 diabetes. Sleep deprivation also makes you feel more hungry and less full due to hormonal imbalances which can lead to weight gain. Finally, the increased stress response can lower the immune system's ability to fight off disease—anything from the common cold to cancer. All of this begins after one bad night’s sleep and continues until we are able to get a good night’s sleep.
The scary part of this is that so many people struggle to get healthy sleep. Night after night they don’t get enough sleep and these symptoms continue to escalate leading to bigger health problems. Some of the greatest health concerns experienced today can be addressed in part by getting a healthy amount of sleep each night.
There is hope for better sleep!
In order to care for yourself and live a truly healthy lifestyle, your sleeping patterns have to be addressed. Luckily, there is hope! In upcoming articles, we’ll take a look at easy and effective strategies to improve your sleeping habits.
Walker, M. (2017). Why We Sleep. Scribner.