We all feel better after a good night’s sleep. You wake up ready to take on the world. On the flip side, most of us aren’t at our best if our sleep has been disrupted. We’re grumpy, less able to deal with anything negative that arises.
What research clearly shows is that sleep and mental health are closely connected, each significantly influencing the other. Good‑quality sleep improves your mental health. It is essential for emotional regulation, cognitive functioning, and overall psychological wellbeing.
Whilst we sleep, our brain processes emotions and our experiences from the day. This helps us manage our stress and our response to any emotional challenges we may be facing. If we don’t get enough sleep, this process is disrupted, and the result can be negative emotional responses, irritability, mood swings, and less ability to deal with our daily stress. At its worst, ongoing sleep deprivation may result in development or worsening of mental health conditions such as anxiety and depression.
Getting a good night’s sleep also plays a key role in brain functioning and mental resilience. Adequate sleep supports attention, decision‑making, memory, and problem‑solving skills. Sleep poorly, and these cognitive functions decline, which can negatively affect academic, work, and relationships. For young people in particular, chronic sleep loss has been linked to increased emotional vulnerability and a higher risk of developing mental health disorders.
A study by the Black Dog Institute (Co-lead: Professor Aliza Werner-Seidler) looked at how the most common mental health problems – symptoms of depression and anxiety – progress during adolescence. The study followed more than 6,000 students from Year 8 to Year 11 across more than 130 schools since 2019, collecting annual data on mental health, sleep, family relationships, school life and technology use.
Sleep emerged as one of the strongest predictors of wellbeing in the study. The researchers found that 38 per cent of students experienced persistent or increasing insomnia symptoms between Year 8 and Year 11, including 11 per cent with clinically significant insomnia. Students with clinically significant insomnia were four times more likely to experience high anxiety and six times more likely to experience high depression symptoms.
Research by the Australasian Sleep Association found that up to 40 per cent of Australians get insufficient sleep, 10 per cent are living with chronic insomnia, and around 15 per cent are potentially affected by sleep apnoea. On top of the physical and mental health implications for individuals, sleep-related health issues cost the Australian economy an estimated $75.5 billion in 2019–20, up from $66.3 billion just three years earlier.
Improving sleep habits can have a positive impact on both physical and mental health. Strategies that can help include such things as:
- maintaining a regular sleep schedule
- reducing screen time before bed
- engaging in regular physical activity and
- creating a calm sleep environment.
If you are having issues with poor sleep, please reach out for help. As Dr Hannah Scott from the HMRI Sleep Health group at Flinders University says: “We spend a third of our lives sleeping, yet sleep remains largely absent from Australia’s health priorities. Sleep should be treated with the same level of urgency and attention as nutrition and physical activity.”
So, how well are you sleeping?
Gary Bruce is a counsellor (GaryBruceCounselling) and coach (Going Beyond Results), MHFA Instructor and registered teacher with over 35 years’ experience. His counselling practice is based in New Farm and provides both in person and online appointments. To find out more email coachgbr1@gmail.com or follow him on LinkedIn (GaryRBruce) or Facebook (Going Beyond Results)
