What is it?
- Poor sleep can cause stress & anxiety.
- Prioritise sleep with consistent routines.
- Seek professional help if sleep problems persist.
Here's more detail
Description
Poor sleep is a common issue that can significantly impact your health and wellbeing. Young people often face a combination of academic, social and personal pressures, making it challenging to establish healthy sleep routines. Insufficient or poor-quality sleep can trigger a range of emotional health problems, including increased stress, anxiety, irritability and symptoms of depression.
It’s essential for young people to prioritise sleep as a vital component of overall wellbeing. Developing good sleep hygiene habits, such as setting a consistent sleep schedule, creating a comfortable sleep environment and limiting screen time before bedtime, can help improve sleep quality. Avoiding caffeine and heavy meals close to bedtime can also help you to sleep better.
If poor sleep becomes a persistent issue and negatively affects your emotional health, you can seek support from a healthcare professional or a counselor. They can help identify underlying causes of sleep difficulties and provide strategies to address them effectively.
Description
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Tips for if you’re struggling with sleep:
- Write down your thoughts before going to sleep
- Practice meditation or take some time to relax (without any screens) before going to sleep
- Write down a plan for the next day so your brain can switch off from thinking about this when you’re trying to sleep
- Try to establish a regular bedtime routine
YoungMinds explains that there is a close connection between sleep and your mental health. If you’re having difficulty sleeping, this can make coping with daily life hard, and if you’re struggling with your mental health, you may find you can’t sleep.
If your sleep problems continue for a long time, the things you try at home are not helping, or if you are worried about an emotional or physical problem, you should speak to a GP.
Not getting enough sleep can worsen, or even cause mental health problems such as anxiety and depression.
Mind says: Struggling with sleep can feel difficult to cope with. It can affect your mental health and wellbeing. But you’re not alone and there are things you can do to make it easier.
If you’re struggling with poor sleep, you might find that you:
- Struggle to cope with your emotions, like getting annoyed and angry easily, or feeling worried and tearful
- Start to struggle more with your mental health
- Feel physically unwell
- Feel like you have no energy, and are struggling with concentration or with carrying out normal daily tasks
- Struggle with friendships and relationships
- Feel like you’re taking more risks
To learn more about sleep and mental health, visit the links below.
Some resources that may help:
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