Who doesn’t love to sleep? And who gets enough of it?

We’ve all experienced the ways in which lack of sleep affects our moods and production levels. When some of us don’t get a complete night’s sleep we feel irritable, short of patience, more stressed and sometimes more sensitive to our environments and the people around us. But did you know that it’s also a two way street? This means that our moods and mental health can also greatly impact our sleep. 

In the society we live in today, we are encouraged to choose production over our sleep. So very many of us choose to work a few extra hours into the night or morning. When we become mothers of fathers, we also have to juggle sleep-work-parenting. And usually, sleep goes out the window first. But how is this sacrifice affecting our mental health, our actual productivity, and our relationships? 

How sleep affects our sense of well being

While we sleep our brains and body repair and reboot themselves from the day’s demands. Even on our best days, our bodies need time to recover from things like digestion, mobility, vision, sensory in-put and so on. The immune system is also recovering from the day’s activities. And our immune systems greatly influence our moods and mental health. Our immune systems help transport the necessary vitamins and minerals to all the right places, help us manage stress, inflammation, and can help boost the production of the happy hormones like dopamine and serotonin. 

Research has shown that the better quality of sleep we have, the more consistent our sleep patterns are and sleeping the right amount of hours each night seems to have a strong link to one’s satisfaction with their overall life. When our bodies recharge and reboot, we can have a more clear understanding and control over our emotions, and the more optimistic we are able to feel about our day. 

The relationship between sleep and moods

Our sleep is regulated by our circadian rhythms. Our circadian rhythms respond to light and darkness and instruct our bodies when to ‘turn on and off.’ But when we interrupt and break our natural sleep cycle rhythms we end up influencing our serotonin and melatonin production levels. This interruption will also impact our appetite - and as we know, our appetites also have a strong hold over our moods. Babies cry out when they’re hungry, and so do we! 

While in the past it was believed that depression caused sleep disorders like insomnia. Now researchers are flipping the script and noticing the connection between sleep disorders and depression. Many scientists speculate that lack of sleep can actually trigger depression and it can even activate anxiety too. But let’s not get into that anxiety loop over sleep! Instead let’s understand how to improve our sleep and how to optimize sleep. 

How much sleep do we need and how to improve our sleep?

Our sleep not only affects our moods, but also our memory, ability to focus, cellular repair, growth hormones and more. Healthy sleeping patterns include a shift from beta-waves to soothing alpha-waves. As we doze off and our sleep deepens, we then shift to delta-waves and finally to Rapid Eye Movement (REM), our dream phase. That being said, children should be getting 10-12 hours of sleep, adolescents 8-10 hours and adults need 7-8 hours. 

To improve sleep, try not to go to bed with your laptop, phone or other electronic devices. It’s also recommended to resist screen time for at least an hour before bed. Shut off all the lights and block external light from entering the room. If you’re using a lamp to read or to perform some other soothing activity before bed, use a soft yellow hue rather than a blue-light which are designed to keep us awake. 

The best activities to do before bed is reading a book, yes a real book, meditating (whether it’s through an app or your own hypnosis), knitting, drawing, writing in a notebook, spending time with your family or simply letting everything go and allowing yourself to shut down. As important as it is for us to turn on and be on our game, it’s equally as important for us to know how to calm and soothe ourselves so that we can sleep better and live happily! 

What are some activities you do before sleep that help you sleep your 7-8 hours? How has sleeping a full sleep cycle altered your mood or overall outlook on life? Share your story with us, we’d love to hear from you!

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