photo credit: Irene Dávila on Unsplash
Hello and welcome back to Mental Health on the Rise. It’s good to have you here!
(Psst! If you’re new, check out our welcome post, and our 1st and 2nd newsletter!)
Spring is here! I feel renewed and filled with life. Any seasonal depression that winter has brought has simply vanished, and I don’t miss it at all.
My cats have been spending all of their free time outside on our balcony, soaking in nature. Both of my fur babies love to bathe in the sunlight and soak in the soft breeze that has been a present every day so far.
Even though my mood is increased from the weather change, I have been focused on something that seems to be lacking: a good foundational sleep. Sleep is so important, yet I am quick to put it off in order to work or do anything else but sleep.
Sleep deprivation is a common thing that many people experience. Either you have insomnia, tossing and turning all night, or you just don’t have a set sleep schedule. Not getting enough regular sleep impacts your cognition, affects your mood and can affect your immune system.
Research conducted by Michigan State University found that using caffeine to combat your sleep deprivation actually negatively impacts you. There were 275 participants in the study, where each person was asked to complete an attention tasks as well as increasing ‘place keeping’ task without skipping or repeating steps.
Attention tasks are something that we do every single day. From driving to work, to boiling water on a stove—we need to pay attention to the task at hand.
Essentially, researchers found that while there was alertness among participants, severe procedural errors was being made. The process in which participants completed tasks was riddled with errors along the way.
"Caffeine may improve the ability to stay awake and attend to a task, but it doesn't do much to prevent procedural errors that can cause things like medical mistakes and car accidents." Associate Psychology Professor Kimberly Fenn
Procedural errors can be dangerous, especially when performing routine tasks that have the potential for danger. Routine tasks can be something as simple as driving a car.
Across the board sleep is important. A lack of sleep can comprise our safety.
To improve our sleep quality, we have to practice mindfulness around our sleep. This may seem odd, but I promise it is a proven method to help you achieve a better night’s rest.
Sleep hygiene is the term used to set sleeping habits to improve overall sleep.
When you go to bed, you shouldn’t be tossing and turning; you should be drifting off to sleep without a second thought. But falling asleep isn’t that simple for some people.
Let’s start by changing our sleep routine for the first week of April.
Start by eliminating distractions
That means your phone! It has to go!
I have tried many times to use my phone before bed. Either as a kindle reader or to watch TikTok until I drift off to sleep. Over time I saw that I would stay up later than I should.
Dim the lights in your room
Create a space for you to have a good night’s sleep. Keeping your room as dark as you can manage has always been my goal. A soft light in the corner always helps.
Add something to give your space the ambiance it needs
I love having a salt lamp that glows nicely at night. Nightlights can be really harsh for me, but something soft is something that I can use.
Whatever works well for you is what you should do. It can be lights strung across the room or little glowing glued to your ceiling.
Stay tuned, highlighted readings will be phased out over the next few months. Expect new and exciting changes to Mental Health on the Rise coming this summer!
Thanks for reading! I appreciate every single one of you! See you again on May 5th!