Mental Health Awareness - Sleep
May is Mental Health Awareness Month! To bring awareness to a topic that has impacted all of us – Mental Health – I will be posting a blog once a week with my favorite mental health tips.
This week will be focused on sleep and my favorite mental health app. Sleep and mental health are so closely related. If we aren’t sleeping, our mental health will suffer. If our mental health is suffering, our sleep may also be impacted. Depression can at times lead to excess sleep. Anxiety can lead to not enough sleep. Regardless, having a good night’s rest is going to impact not just your current mood, your day, and your relationships, but also your future health and well-being.
Personally, I struggle with turning my brain off when trying to sleep. Nightly routines have been beneficial to get my mind and body in a trained state to know when it’s time to shut down the never-ending to do list in my brain. Over the years, I have found listening to something while falling asleep helps me relax, turn off my thoughts, and with time, fall asleep. I used to try falling asleep to a tv show or movie. This can help folks fall asleep, but screens will not help us stay asleep or sleep as soundly.
I found a work around through an app called Insight Timer. I will talk about this app to anyone who will listen! Insight Timer is marketed as a meditation app. My most used function with Insight Timer is their Bedtime Stories and Yoga Nidra. Both are found within their sleep section (other sections include: meditation, breathwork, mornings, anxiety, stress, music, energy, and more). I will choose a reading or guided session, hit play, and fall asleep.
I use the free version, but this app has additional readings and updates with a paid version. I invite you to try it out for yourself. Having something to listen to or guide me, takes me out of my head, into my body, and allows me to relax into sleep.
Let me know if you if you end up trying this or if you found any other apps that have been helpful for sleep!
P.S. – Here are some of my favorite sleep tricks:
Avoid screens an hour before bed (I know, scrolling can feel so good, but it increases anxiety and the light keeps us awake!)
If you find yourself waking up in the middle of the night, try your best to avoid looking at the time! This is a new one for me and has helped me fall back asleep more quickly, decrease anxiety, and stop the mental math with how many hours I have left to sleep.
Create a nightly routine to signal to your body when it’s time for bed.