Restful nights, healthier minds: Understanding and overcoming insomnia

We’ve all had nights where we’ve struggled to fall asleep, whether it’s due to a rush of excitement over tomorrow’s plans or dwelling on negative experiences.

 

For many, poor sleep is a short-term inconvenience, lasting no more than a few days or weeks. However, if you’re someone who struggles with persistent sleep problems like chronic insomnia, getting enough rest can become a nightly battle that impacts your mind and body long-term.

 

To help you cope, this blog post explores insomnia in more detail, how it affects your emotional wellbeing, and ways you can establish healthier sleeping habits going forward.

 

What is insomnia?

 

Insomnia is a common sleep disorder. Thought to affect as many as 1 in 3 people in the UK, this condition influences your ability to drift off and stay asleep.

 

In practice, this could mean you regularly wake up in the middle of the night, rise earlier than you need to every morning, or struggle to get back to sleep after being disturbed. 

 

This does more than leave your body tired and your mind foggy. If you are unable to get the recommended seven hours of sleep every night, it can be hard to focus at work, pitch in at home, or manage your mood around friends, family members and colleagues. 

 

The relationship between insomnia and mental health

 

Although chronic insomnia is often viewed in the same bracket as stress, anxiety and depression, it is not considered a mental health problem itself.

 

This is because insomnia can cause emotional difficulties, and be brought on as a result of these challenges.

 

For example, if you’re not getting the rest you need, you may find it hard to manage the hurdles you encounter day-to-day, allowing the effects of stress and anxiety to set in. 

 

On the other hand, if you’re living with depression, the negative thoughts and feelings associated could interrupt your ability to unwind in bed, leading to insomnia.

 

5 tips for overcoming insomnia

 

Whether insomnia was the cause or result of emotional challenges, its impact on your wellbeing can be noticeable – bringing your mood down, raising your stress levels, and making it harder for you to manage.

 

To help you better cope with insomnia, we’ve put together a handful of simple, practical tips you can try to help you improve your relationship with rest.

 

1. Get active during the day 

 

When you’re laying in bed, but your mind and body are brimming with energy, it can be tough to naturally drift off even when you want to.

 

Introducing regular exercise into your routine can tire your mind and body in preparation for a restful night’s sleep. 

 

That doesn’t mean you need to commit to an intense schedule of activity before bed – even just a brisk 10-minute walk during the day can prime you for rest, boost your mood and benefit your overall health.

 

To help, try integrating triggers and alerts into your day to remove the planning and thinking associated with physical activity, allowing it to blend seamlessly into your everyday routine. For example:

• When you leave work, that may be your trigger to walk to the bus stop
• When you come home to your significant other, that could be your reminder to jog together 
• When you go in the garden, this might be your cue to stretch for a few minutes 

2. Write down your worries

 

If you feel overly stressed or anxious, the past and future worries filling your mind can prevent you from switching off at the end of the day and getting regular sleep.

 

To set these thoughts to one side, try spending just a few minutes writing them down. Whether it’s deadlines at work, responsibilities at home, or outstanding tasks on your to-do list, putting pen to paper can enable you to clear these from your mind and get the right amount of sleep.

 

If you’re new to the idea of journaling or are simply unsure how to get started, think:

• What’s on my mind in bed right now?
• How do I feel as I lay here in this moment?
• What are my top three priorities for tomorrow?

3. Work on improving your sleep hygiene

 

Another effective way to treat insomnia and address disruptive sleep is to improve your sleep hygiene.

 

Whether that involves limiting your caffeine intake during the day, establishing a wind-down routine at night, or introducing sleeping aids like blackout blinds to your bedroom – think about what you can do to prepare yourself for great rest each night.

• Remove screens from your sleep environment
• Stick to a consistent bedtime every night
• Avoid napping during the day
• Eat earlier dinners where possible

4. Practise mindfulness

 

When our thoughts are rooted in the past or the future, it can cause us trouble falling asleep.

 

By grounding yourself in the moment, mindfulness can calm your mind and guide your body into a state of relaxation.

 

Although interventions such as progressive muscle relaxation (PGMR) have proven effective in sleep studies, the 4-7-8 breathing exercise is a quick and simple way to get into the headspace conducive to a good night’s sleep. The steps are simple:

• Begin by gently breathing in through your nose as you count to four
• After taking your breath in, hold it until you reach a count of seven
• Then, let the air out through your mouth quickly, until you count to eight

As you repeat this process, you may notice that your heart rate slows, your mind clears, and your body is ready to unwind.

 

5. Speak to a therapist

 

When insomnia prevents us from drifting off, regularly wakes us up, or deprives us of quality sleep, we can become tired, irritable, anxious and depressed.

 

If you’re looking to establish a better relationship between sleep and mental health, dedicated support can be another effective way of overcoming insomnia. 

 

By working with our mental health team at Therapy For You, your local NHS Talking Therapies provider in North East and South East Essex, we can get you on the path to feeling better.

 

Through our free, first-of-its-kind online CBT course for stress and anxiety, and our wider range of mental health treatment pathways, we can help you develop valuable techniques to improve your outlook on sleep – all in a way that suits your preferences and routine:

• Explore online therapy courses that can help
• Start 1-to-1 counselling sessions
• Register for ieso typed therapy
• Find supportive group therapy sessions
• See how video call therapy can help
• Speak to a therapist over the phone

For more about Therapy For You and the sleep therapy treatments we can provide, get in touch with our helpful team today.