Sleep and mental health

Ever wondered what really happens when you hit the hay? Well, it’s not just a simple downtime for your body. While you're sleeping, your body is like a well-oiled machine, conserving energy and giving your muscles a break. But that's not all - your brain is wide awake, busy consolidating memories, processing information, and getting you ready to take on the next day. Sleep is not just a time for relaxing; it helps regulate your body temperature, keeps your immune system in check, regulates hormones, and supports your brain's ability to memorise information. For all these reasons, sleep is so essential to your overall health and wellbeing. 

Life at the university is a whirlwind of excitement, learning, and growth. As a result of obtaining that work, life, study balance, sleep is often the first necessity that's reduced, as a result, it can play havoc with your mental wellbeing.  

The easiest way to explain this is via the sleep-mental health cycle, the continuous feedback loop between your sleep patterns and your psychological state where lack of sleep leads to tiredness, which in turn makes it difficult to cope with daily life, and this increases the risk of developing/worsening mental health conditions, thus additional feelings of worry and/or stress, which then lead to additional lack of sleep. And continuing to feed that loop over and over.  

But why does this happen? Brain imaging studies have shown that a good night's sleep, especially during the REM phase, is essential in building mental and emotional resilience. During REM, your brain processes emotional information, influencing your mood and emotional reactivity. Missing out on REM hinders your ability to process positive emotions, affecting your mental health. 

If you find yourself caught in this cycle, look at the content we have compiled on effective strategies to help you take control of your sleep patterns, and if you need additional support, access our University Health and Counselling Services and pave the way to improved mental and emotional wellbeing. 

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