Transcription:
Impact of Sleep on Mental Health

Gabby Cinnamon: Welcome back to the Well Within Reach podcast brought to you by Riverside Healthcare. I'm your host, Gabby Cinnamon. And today, I'm joined by Kathleen Gallagher, Manager of the Riverside Sleep Center, to talk about the impact of sleep on our mental health. Thank you so much for joining me today, Kathleen.

Kathleen Gallagher: Thanks for having me.

Gabby Cinnamon: So you're a frequent guest of the podcast. I think you've done a few with us in the past. But for those of us who haven't listened to you before, can you kind of talk about your role at the sleep center?

Kathleen Gallagher: Sure. I've been managing the Riverside Sleep Center for almost five years. I'm really passionate about sleep. And I really feel that inadequate sleep is directly related to an individual's overall health and wellbeing. I like to promote the understanding of sleep issues through presentations, podcasts, and such like this, so people could learn about how sleep is really important and how it impacts their lives.

Gabby Cinnamon: So we've kind of mentioned that you're a big advocate for sleep, and we've talked a lot about the importance of sleep in the past, but can you kind of talk about exactly why sleep is so important for our overall health?

Kathleen Gallagher: Sure. Sleep is one of those really important pillars of our health. And there's a well-known connection between our need for sleep and our physical and mental health. You know, for the time we sleep, our body and our brain have functions that are responsible for healing and restoring our bodies. When we have quality sleep, we should wake up feeling refreshed and ready for a new day. However, a lack of sleep or a prolonged sleep deprivation will leave a person feeling tired or at risk for many health problems, which can lead to obesity, heart disease, blood pressures issues, diabetes and stroke.

Gabby Cinnamon: Could you kind of go a little bit more into the impact of sleep on mental health? I know you just kind of talked about some of the physical impacts. But if you're not getting enough sleep, how can that impact your mental health or if you're not getting quality sleep, how can that impact your mental health?

Kathleen Gallagher: Sure. Prior to the pandemic, there is research to support there is a link between sleep quality and mental health. Sleep quality, not quantity. We're always worried about how much time we spend sleeping, but really a lot is more focused on the quality of sleep. And that among young adults, that sleep quality, it was the biggest predictor of mental health issues.

In a recent article I read that was in Sleep Review magazine, that said the pandemic has led to higher suicidal ideation, lower well-being in the public, which I find really interesting. So the article also goes on to say that mental health plans when people go seek help really need to involve a sleep component as well as part of their regimen.

Gabby Cinnamon: So you mentioned the pandemic and we kind of seen that the pandemic has been impacting our lives beyond COVID. It's also the mental aspects as well. Why do you think it is that it has started to impact our sleep?

Kathleen Gallagher: Well, I think a lot of people have a lot of worries that are going on since this pandemic has happened, whether people have lost their jobs or their financial concerns, isolation that a lot of older adults have had, people worried about getting a disease. And all this extra anxiety and stress causes people to go to bed and lay there awake and they're unable to get quality sleep, let alone quantity of sleep that's needed. So, you know, mental health and sleep have a bi-directional relationship, meaning if you're not getting enough sleep, it'll affect your mental health. And again, if your mental health is impacted, it will affect your sleep.

Gabby Cinnamon: So what are some signs that we should start looking out for if we think these factors are starting to impact us? Like how might this play out in our everyday life, if we're not getting enough sleep and our mental health is suffering from that?

Kathleen Gallagher: Well, you know, we can wake up feeling really unrefreshed. And, you know, there were some studies too, that show that a lot of people think that they spent extra time in bed that's a good thing, but it's not necessarily a good thing either.

Gabby Cinnamon: We'd like to think that.

Kathleen Gallagher: Yeah. So, you know, there's a link to depression and how much time people spend in bed. So too much hypersomnia is not a good thing, too much insomnia when people can't sleep is, you know, not a good thing. It's really finding that good balance, and how do you get that balance, how do you reset yourself so that you can set yourself up for a good night's sleep.

Gabby Cinnamon: Yeah. Okay. Let's say you start to notice you get into that cycle where it's like I didn't get enough sleep last night, but these stressors from my day are starting to impact, that I can't fall asleep at night. What can we do to reverse that cycle before it gets too bad?

Kathleen Gallagher: Well, you know, setting herself up for good hygiene habits, a lot of people don't really do that. And especially throughout this pandemic, I'm going to use that as an example. You know, a lot of kids aren't back in school, so are they going to bed at a normal bedtime? Are we as adults making sure that we too are setting good examples for, you know, our children or even for ourselves? Taking that time out. Even those nightly bedtime things we do like brushing our teeth, putting on our night closers, those are things we don't have to think about as we're getting ready for bed.

And, you know, having that same set sleep and wake time is very important. You know, we think we can stay up late on a weekend, but we're still up at that crack of dawn like the workday during the week. I'd say that find ways to wind down. Don't stay on technology too late. Don't stay in bright lights because they don't really help us get ourselves set for a good night's sleep.

I like to suggest things like the Calm app or Headspace or I'll mention go to YouTube and find a guided meditation for sleep because it's going to be the voice that's going to talk you down to relax as well as nice music to help relax your body, to turn your mind off. Because the chatter that goes on in our brains really has to turn off before we're able to go to sleep.

So I always say you spend a third of your life in bed, make it comfortable, make it conducive for sleep. And of course, you know, it's getting warm out again. So set that temperature down low enough because your body temperature has to lower as well. What I always say to people, "Are you sticking your foot out from under those covers when you go to sleep at night?" And if you are, that tells you that your core temperature is still too warm, you need to cool off. So the ideal temperature in the house is about 65 to get the temperature in your body of the lower for sleep.

Gabby Cinnamon: Yeah. I feel like a lot of people mentioned that they prefer to sleep cold. Obviously, you don't want to be sweating in bed, but that's an interesting point. I never knew that, that if your foot is hanging out of your bed, that you need to cool off. It makes sense though.

Kathleen Gallagher: Your temperature really needs to cool off about three degrees before you can go to sleep. That's why they suggest not to exercise too close to bedtime because you heat up your core temperature. Whereas if you take a nice relaxing bath or shower, before you go to bed, it doesn't work the same way, it actually sets you up for relaxation.

Gabby Cinnamon: Wow, that's really interesting. So kind of another piece you've mentioned that I think is hard for a lot of us is eliminating distractions. You know, I tend to look at my phone before I go to bed. And I was just kind of curious, and I think everyone's kind of curious, with 24/7 notifications, you're always getting texts, the news popping up on your phone, have you noticed an increase in people having more difficulty eliminating distractions and have you noticed a difference between adults and teens and kids? Do you think that they're struggling more with there's constant stimulation going on?

Kathleen Gallagher: And I know research has showed yes, absolutely. Having so much technology at our fingertips, it makes it so much easier to scroll through Facebook before we go to sleep or, you know, do a little shopping or play a couple of games before you go to bed. And I know the studies have kind of gone in and out on whether or not that blue light protection is helping or hindering as we're going to sleep.

But ideally, all these distractions just keep your mind going when we're supposed to be shutting down to relax. So that's why I suggested if you're going to be on your phone, find that nice relaxation, to listen to rather than technology. I've met the kids out there who were up texting their friends in the middle of the night and that's not the ideal thing either. So take the phone out of the room. So you're not setting yourself up for failure and learning to turn off that technology can be really hard. We're so accustomed to it. We're so used with these days.

Gabby Cinnamon: Yeah. I think that it does come down to putting the phone as far away from you as possible. Because even if you wake up in the middle of the night and you are wide awake, I think it's tempting to like, "Oh, I'll just scroll and scroll." But in the end, I don't think that usually ends up helping.

Kathleen Gallagher: Exactly. So, in fact, if you are the person who wakes up in the middle of night, it's not suggested that you get on some form of technology. If you're laying there and you're awake, get out of bed for 20 minutes to go do something boring. Read a book before you climb back into bed and try and go to sleep again. And there's people who stare at that clock. You know, you look at the clock and, "Oh my gosh, it's three o'clock in the morning. I have to be up pretty soon. Now, it's four o'clock in the morning and I'm still awake," and you get that clock anxiety as they call it. So if you're that person, you know, they even suggest taking that clock out of the room, so you don't look at that clock.

Gabby Cinnamon: Yeah. And I guess kind of going back to the mental health piece, which also kind of plays into distractions, you talked about how your mental health can also start to impact your sleep. Can you kind of just talk a little bit about that? Because I think that's another distraction if you are having anxiety, you know, about what's coming or past events, then it can be hard to fall asleep at night too.

Kathleen Gallagher: Absolutely. So you need some good coping mechanisms for that. And so how do you set yourself up for a good night's sleep? And that's where I come back to doing some of these relaxation techniques. I know we can go out and take some melatonin. You know, if people are really struggling to go to sleep. If you haven't don't have an issue initiating sleep, that's not really designed for that. But the better thing would be to relearn how to go to sleep comfortably. And that's why I suggest maybe learning some relaxation, try some meditation.

Anxiety is very real and for some people it can come on rather quickly and dissolve. And for some people, it stays and it could be kind of chronic. If you notice that you're really having an issue with your sleep, maybe seek some professional help from one of the sleep specialists we have here at Riverside, or, you know, we have great physician psychiatrist, that kind of stuff, if it's more of a mental health issue, if you really can't get beyond it.

Gabby Cinnamon: Yeah. Obviously, you know, we hope it never gets to that point, but it's good to know there are resources. So you would say, you know, if you've tried the Headspace, you've tried relaxation methods, then you should seek outside help.

Kathleen Gallagher: Sure. Because if it's really impacting people, when you are not getting enough sleep, our brain, like I said, doesn't function like it should. It impairs your ability to think clearly throughout the day. It definitely can cause people to become depressed over time because it can really take a toll on your body because your body is supposed to restore and heal when it's sleeping. And if you're not able to do that, it's going to take its toll on you over time.

Gabby Cinnamon: Oh yeah. And kind of how you've talked about before, it's all connected. So it definitely is easy to see where those two things can start impacting each other and it would be hard to get out of that cycle.

Kathleen Gallagher: Sure. And people even can bring on the anxiety before they go to sleep and even have anxiety about not being able to go to sleep. So it can really perpetuate and cause like a cyclical event to happen.

Gabby Cinnamon: Yeah. I'm sure. So is there anything else we should know or any other last tips that you have for us on how we can get better sleep to help our mental health?

Kathleen Gallagher: You know what I like to say, take a break from watching that news all the time. The news that we watch these days and all this stuff that's going on in the world sets us up for maybe not such a great night's sleep before we go to bed. Don't forget it's nice and sunny outside, go out and spend some time in the sun. It actually helps reset our circadian rhythm, so that's really important. If you're somebody who is working from home, maybe try and skip a nap. Or if you're taking a nap, don't take it too late in the day so it really affects your sleep. I've met plenty of people who fall asleep in front of the TV. If you're really that tired, just go to sleep. There's not that much to watch. You can check the weather in the morning. I promise you.

Gabby Cinnamon: It'll still be there.

Kathleen Gallagher: Sometimes people fell asleep on that couch or in the chair in front of the TV, and then they go mosey off to bed and they have a hard time falling asleep and they're stuck awake because they just had a nap in front of the TV basically.

I already talked about getting that clock out of the room. Again, you can take some sleep aids, but if you're somebody who's really attuned to taking them all the time, maybe take a break from them and see how you do because otherwise you become used to taking them all the time and I don't know what the threshold is eventually if your body becomes too used to it.

Gabby Cinnamon: Yeah. Well, I think that's a great point to end on. It's always a pleasure to have you on the podcast, Kathleen. Thank you so much for joining me today.

Kathleen Gallagher: Thanks so much for having me.

Gabby Cinnamon: And thank you listeners for tuning into the well within reach podcast brought to you by Riverside Healthcare. You can learn more about behavioral medicine and the Riverside Sleep Center at riversidehealthcare.org.