Sleep, sleep debt, and mental health
Lack of sleep, also known as sleep debt, affects both our physical and mental health. Studies show that sleep debt affects numerous parts of our body, including our brain. In our brains, lack of sleep actually causes brain activity to slow down.
Sleep cycles at my house are dramatically different in the summer than during the school year. With a house full of tweens and teens, removing the need to get up in the morning has invited my teens and tweens to stay up long past their typical bedtime.
They stay up until midnight, then sleep in the next day. Sometimes I find myself insisting they get up as the clock chimes noon. Yesterday we dragged the 14-year-old out of bed at 10:30 am for a family trip to the blueberry patch. He was not pleased. He complained about feeling rushed out the door. He slumped into his seat in the car, intent on ignoring those around him. But the ride out helped improve his mood. By the time we were all in the berry patch, he had waded through the worst of his sleep deprivation.
We all know what not getting enough sleep does to us the next day. We are grouchy. Moving through the day feels like swimming against the current. It’s hard to get things done. We are short with the kids, tend to eat even though we are not hungry, and have no motivation for exercise.
That is not a surprise to researchers who study what lack of sleep does to people.
Describing one study, Yuval Nir, a sleep researcher at Tel Aviv University said, “We were fascinated to observe how sleep deprivation dampened brain cell activity. Unlike the usual rapid reaction, the neurons responded slowly, fired more weakly and their transmissions dragged on longer than usual.”
You are not imagining things – when you are tired you really do think more slowly.
What’s more, not getting sufficient sleep for long periods of time also reduces mental and emotional resilience. Lack of sleep can lead to negative thinking and emotional vulnerability and can make problems with anger, depression or anxiety worse.
A survey of sleep studies done by the Department of Research at the California Institute of Behavioral Neurosciences & Psychology notes, “Sleep is an essential part of our lives. The typical person needs seven to eight hours of sleep each night to maintain peak mental and physical health.”
They continue, “Less than seven to eight hours of sleep can be harmful to human health. Getting less than adequate sleep is known as sleep deprivation. When an individual has multiple consecutive days of sleep deprivation, they enter “sleep debt,” which is a cumulative effect of insufficient sleep for any period of time. The effect of sleep deprivation on mood has been well-documented. The changes in mood that have been linked to sleep deprivation include anxiety, depression, mood swings, etc.
Sleep deprivation appears to impact adults, adolescents, and children in similar ways. Sleep deprivation can exacerbate pre-existing mood disturbances, such as anger, depression, and anxiety, and can lead to confusion, fatigue, and lack of vigor. Even just one sleepless night correlates with these changes in function.”
How much sleep do you need?
It’s not always easy to get as much sleep as we should. Adults need 7-9 hours of sleep per night. Recommended nightly sleep is 10 hours for teens and between 10 and 13 hours per night for children over the age of 3. (Children under 3 need even more.) Missing even 15 minutes of sleep each night can accumulate over time and result in sleep debt which affects both mental and physical health.
So how do you take corrective action if you or your children are suffering the effects of too little sleep? Sleep experts recommend:
- Rather than sleeping later, try going to bed earlier each night. Going to bed at the same time each night, as well as following the same routine of getting ready for sleep, can help with falling asleep.
- Optimize the sleeping environment by eliminating electronics (tv, ipads, phones, laptops) in the bedroom.
- Consider room darkening shades and motion-sensing nightlights to minimize the amount of ambient light in the room overnight.
- Lower the temperature of your sleeping environment. Body temperature drops as we sleep, so the optimal temperature for the bedroom is between 65 and 68 degrees overnight.
- While naps can help reduce the total amount of sleep debt, there is such a thing as too much of a good thing. Adults should limit naps to a 20-minute catnap or a 60-90 minute power nap. Any more can create problems getting to sleep later in the day.
Want to know more about the physiological effects of sleep debt? Check out this article from LiveScience.com.
Lynne Brown is a freelance writer, former Montessori toddler teacher, and mom to seven amazing kids, some of whom now have kids of their own.