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Trigger Warnings: Sleep issues, anxiety
Hello everyone! Welcome to The Oh Shit Kit Podcast! Today we are talking all about sleep and how it relates to mental health. Maddie’s “oh shit” moment of the week is a positive thing because she is sick of the negative shit we’ve had to talk about lately. You guys will be shocked to know that it is about a book. Leora is mainly impressed because the book is a lot lighter than it looks. A real literary genius, that one. Leora’s “oh shit” moment was when she found out Maddie has been carrying crystals around in her bra. It made it look like Maddie had some alarmingly aggressive nipples, so we learned that “placement is key”. Maddie is trying all the things to feel better at this point...we will see who has the last laugh in this tit-uation! (Yes, that just happened).
On that note, let’s jump into today’s topic, which is actually not crystal tits. We have a lot of sources on this one, so be sure to check out our references below. Turns out that sleep tends to affect those of us with mental health diagnoses more than the general population. According to the Harvard Medical School website, fifty to eighty percent of people who visit a psychiatric practice report sleep problems, compared to ten to eighteen percent of the general U.S. population. Leora thinks this is about double. We’re serious, social workers can’t do math. We all have our strengths and weaknesses. Sleep problems can be caused by mental health issues, or can worsen or even create mental health issues. Lack of sleep is just not good for your brain!
Another interesting fact that Maddie learned from listening to The Joe Rogan Experience podcasts’s episode about sleep is that the amount of sleep people are getting has been decreasing over time. In 1942, the average adult in the U.S. got 7.9 hours of sleep per night. These days, the average is about 6 hours and 30 minutes. According to Leora’s calculations, that’s a decrease of 15 hours per night! (Just kidding). It turns out that not getting enough sleep can cause a huge level of cognitive impairment, making activities like driving more challenging and increasing the occurrence of difficult emotions. We are all just big toddlers...when we don’t get enough sleep, and we need to go down for a nap, our ability to regulate our emotions is hugely diminished.
Over time, chronic sleep deprivation can have major impacts on your physical health, too. According to the article on Healthline.com, not getting enough sleep can actually take years off your life and affect many of the important systems in your body. Maddie drops some crazy ass statistics about the correlation between time change for daylight savings and the occurrence of heart attacks. According to Matthew Walker’s TedTalk, Sleep is Your Superpower, when we lose an hour, the rate of heart attacks goes up by about twenty percent. When we gain an hour of sleep, the rate goes down about twenty percent. Mind. Fucking. Blown.
We get it, sometimes getting enough sleep is not a possibility. However, our culture tends to place value on spending all our time working and not enough time resting, when in fact, productivity will plummet when you don’t get enough sleep. If you’re able to, make sleep a priority in your life...the research shows you will be more productive during your waking hours, and you will be healthier, physically and emotionally. Sleep is self-care, and we all know that doing self-care makes us better workers, partners, parents, friends…just better, happier people overall. TREAT. YO. SELF. To some shut eye.
Leora discusses her sleep journey, and the challenge of sleeping before her anxiety was properly treated. Leora would wake up in the middle of the night with the classic anxiety-induced sense of dread, which would keep her awake for hours. Once Leora was prescribed medication by her general doctor, her anxiety lessened, but her sleep problems became worse. She found out that the medication that she was on was causing her to have sleep issues, and her psychiatrist switched her to a different medication. Leora now does not frequently struggle with sleep issues!
There are lots of ways to cope with issues with sleep, and while medication worked for Leora, there are plenty of other things to try out there. We are here for those tools! One thing that can be helpful is lifestyle changes. This means reducing your caffeine, alcohol, and/or nicotine intake, as well as not using other drugs that cause your sleep cycle to get messed up. Nicotine and caffeine are both stimulants, so not using them or not using them close to bedtime can be helpful. A lot of people think alcohol helps them fall asleep, but it actually disrupts your sleep cycle because your body is busy processing it. This is why a lot of people will wake up in the middle of the night if they drank too much or will wake not feeling well-rested even if they slept for many hours.
Exercise can also help people to sleep better. If you do some type of physical activity during the day, it is shown to help you fall asleep faster, have better quality/deeper sleep, and not wake up in the middle of the night as much. As always, it doesn’t have to be extreme, and make sure it’s something you don’t fucking hate doing!
Next, there’s the concept of sleep hygiene. This basically means doing things that are correlated to having a good night’s sleep. Going to bed and waking at the same time each day can be helpful in order to cue your body to be on a regular sleep schedule. We know, you don’t want to wake up at 6 a.m. on a Saturday. Neither do we. If you’re having trouble sleeping, though, it may be worthwhile to try keeping your bed and waking times a bit closer on the weekends to what they are on the weekdays. Another part of sleep hygeine is using your bed only for sleep and sex. That means no watching T.V. in bed, no working in bed, etc. We decided that reading a book is probably okay, because if not, Maddie may not make it through a single night. Sleep hygiene can also involve keeping your bedroom dark and cool. According to Maddie’s new sleep guru, Matthew Walker, your brain temperature actually needs to drop by two to three degrees in order to initiate sleep. It may seem counterintuitive, but warming your feet and hands can encourage your core body temperature to cool down so you can fall asleep, so taking a bath or shower before bed can be beneficial. Finally, stay away from screens with blue light before bedtime. Blue light cues your brain to believe it is daytime, and delays the release of the chemical melatonin, which tells your brain it’s time for sleep.
Have a routine. Your brain is very responsive to repeated cues. Find something that can cue your brain to tell your body that it’s time for sleep. You can try something that involves senses like smell, taste, or physical touch. Some examples are herbal tea, aromatherapy, relaxing yoga/stretching, a bath or shower, a massage from a loved one or a foot massage for yourself...etc. One simple thing to try is to put some aromatherapy oil on your wrist before bed. Smell is such a strong sense and it can really trigger your body and mind to know it’s time to relax. In addition,, don’t try to fall asleep until you are ready. Sometimes the frustration of not being able to fall asleep can cause a vicious cycle, so if you can’t fall asleep, try getting up and doing a relaxing activity and then going back to bed when you feel tired.
Try some relaxation techniques. Some examples are Progressive Muscle Relaxation (PMR), yoga, meditation, or imagery. The Calm app has some cool tools like sleep stories and meditations specifically for falling asleep. You can also find guided progressive muscle relaxation scripts online. Finally, you can talk to your therapist to find some techniques that will work for you, and tackle the issues that may be causing you stress and making it harder to sleep in the first place.
Example of PMR video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=86HUcX8ZtAk
If this is something you struggle with a lot, you may want to consider medication. Whether you use over-the-counter medication or talk to your doctor about a prescription sleep medication, you should consult with your doctor if you’re having consistent issues with sleep to make sure it isn’t due to an underlying health condition.
We hope these tools are useful and that you are all on your way to a better night’s sleep, armed with the knowledge of just how important sleep is! Until next time, keep your crystals strapped on tight, and sleep well.
TOOLS
Put crystals in your bra? Remember, placement is key!
Let go of the idea that not sleeping enough is somehow noble.
Lifestyle changes: Reduce or cut out caffeine, alcohol, nicotine, and other drugs
Try exercising during the day to improve sleep at night.
Maintain good sleep hygiene. This can include:
Going to bed and waking up at the same time every night/day (even weekends, we know, we know)
Using the bedroom for only sleep and sex (so no TV, no working in bed, I don’t think it means no reading, so luckily Maddie will survive)
Keeping the bedroom dark and cool
Avoiding screens and blue light before bedtime
Have a routine, something that you do each night before bed to cue your brain to go to sleep. If this is something sensory, like aromatherapy, it can be pretty powerful in teaching your brain to go into sleep mode.
If you can’t fall asleep for a while, get up and do something relaxing, then try again. Avoid the frustration of tossing and turning as this just makes it more difficult to fall asleep.
Keep a journal or a to-do list next to your bed if you’re someone who can’t sleep because you’re worrying about what you might forget to do tomorrow (or, you know, five years from now).
Talk to a therapist about sleep to find some tools that work for you and tackle the issues that are causing issues with sleep for you specifically.
Try some relaxation techniques. Some examples are Progressive Muscle Relaxation (PMR), yoga, meditation, or imagery.
If this is something you struggle with a lot, you may want to consider medication. Whether you use over-the-counter medication or talk to your doctor about a prescription sleep medication, you should consult with your doctor if you’re having consistent issues with sleep to make sure it isn’t due to an underlying health condition.
CITATIONS
Cole, W., & Adamson, E. (2019). The inflammation spectrum: find your food triggers and reset your system. New York: Avery, an imprint of Penguin Random House.
Curtis, S. (2019). Its not Ok to feel blue: and other lies: inspirational people open up about their mental health. London: Penguin Books Ltd.
Harvard Medical School. (n.d.). Sleep and mental health. Retrieved from https://www.health.harvard.edu/newsletter_article/Sleep-and-mental-health.
Huffington, A. (2017). The Sleep Revolution. Random House USA.
Rogan, J., & Walker, M. (2018). Retrieved from https://www.mixcloud.com/TheJoeRoganExperience/1109-matthew-walker/
Sleepio.com. (n.d.). Great British Sleep Survey 2012. Retrieved from https://www.sleepio.com/2012report/.
Walker, M., & TedTalks. (2019, April). Matt Walker: Sleep is Your Superpower. Retrieved from https://www.ted.com/talks/matt_walker_sleep_is_your_superpower?language=en.
Watson, S., & Cherney, K. (2019, May 1). 11 Effects of Sleep Deprivation on Your Body. Retrieved from https://www.healthline.com/health/sleep-deprivation/effects-on-body.