Hosted by the Mental Health Foundation, Mental Health Awareness Week will take place from 18-24 May 2020. The theme this year is ‘sleep’.
We know sleep is integral to our overall wellbeing and can have a huge impact on not only our physical health but also our mental health.
Up until recently scientists did not actually know the reason why we sleep, however they have always known how integral it is.
Now the roles of why we sleep has been more readily identified. These are just some of those roles:
To improve our physical health
To improve our mental health
To improve our overall performance
To aid memory and learning
To increase productivity
To increase creativity
To improve our overall emotional wellbeing
The next question is, if we know how important sleep is to everything we do, why is it estimated that the average Briton gets just 6hrs and 19mins when we need on average 7 to 8 hrs?
Whether it’s staying up to late watching television (what I call the Netflix effect, just one more episode of our box set binge), or using mobiles in bed, replying to work emails, social media, doing life admin etc. All these things take us away from the required amount we need.
If it’s so integral why also do we see it as a badge of honour when we are sleep deprived? Perhaps it is something to do with the fact that we can get by on less sleep and the negative impact can often seem imperceptible.
How can we improve our sleep? It’s called sleep hygiene (seems like a rather woo woo kind of word) but how can we sleep better?:
- Set a time for sleep and stick to it. We do it with kids so do the same for you. This makes sure you have enough time for sleep
- Nail your bedtime routine. Try not to look at electronics all the way up sleep time.
- Save your bed for sleep (and one other thing 😊), this forms the habit of sleep so your body realises as soon as you get to bed it’s time to sleep, it’s not time for phone scrolling.
- Get some daylight – It helps keep our internal clock on track
- Make space for sleep – Make sure your room is as dark as it can be, black out blinds / curtains etc. Make sure your bed is comfy as it can be so it welcomes you in every night.
How much sleep do you get and what are your top tips for getting a great nights kip?
