The Mental Emotional Health Blog

I have a great guest article today. As a Clinical Therapist I agree with Amy Cook, who has written the following article about sleep for this site. Be sure to check out her site.

Sleep is important. Thanks, Amy!

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How Healthy Sleep Habits Help You Manage StressMany of us take good health for granted, and we often don’t realize its value until we’ve lost it. Not for nothing has it been said that health is wealth and that we must do all we can to ensure that we stay healthy for as long as we live. In order to do that, we need to eat healthy food, exercise regularly, and avoid things that are bad for us like cigarettes, drugs, alcohol and stress. Now while most aspects of good health are within our control, stress is something that is not. We are prone to be affected by it no matter how many relaxation methods we adopt and however hard we try to unwind. Work, relationships, situations – they all contribute to our stress level, and the more we stress, the more we lose our health. One way to combat stress is to follow healthy sleeping habits. When we sleep, our body rejuvenates itself and prepares for a new day; we are in effect recharging the cells that were worn out the previous day. And when we don’t get enough sleep or if our sleep is disturbed, we tend to wake up cranky the following morning and progressively get worse as the day goes on. The average human being needs at least 7 hours of sleep every night. So when you deprive your body of this, you build up a sleep deficit which in turn affects a host of factors – you are unable to think clearly, you lose your edge in crucial situations, your reaction time and vision are impaired and cause you to make serious errors when driving or doing other activities that require your full concentration, your performance suffers, you cannot recall facts, and you are very impatient and cranky all the time. So you can see how your stress level is bound to go up when you haven’t had enough sleep. To bring down your stress and negate any chance of the ailments that are associated with it, you need to:·        Sleep at relatively the same time every night and wake up at the same time every morning so that your body is used to your sleep pattern.·        Try taking a power nap during the day – all you need is 15 minutes of shut eye to rejuvenate your body and prevent fatigue (a major contributor to stress) from affecting your concentration and performance during the later part of the day. ·        Avoid drinking caffeine after 5 pm – it could impair your ability to fall asleep at night.·        Try to get a sound sleep at night. If your sleep is disturbed, relax first before hitting the bed. You could listen to soft music, read a light book, drink a warm glass of milk, or take a hot bath to get your body to ease up and prepare for sleep. ·        While you may enjoy your lie-ins on holidays and the weekend, don’t sleep for too long as your body becomes confused and finds it hard to wake up on Mondays which leaves you cranky and stressed at work. ·        Practice meditation to help calm and relax your mind so that you don’t find your sleep disturbed and end up tossing and turning throughout the night.  By-line: This guest article was written by Amy S. Cook, who regularly writes on the topic of lvn to rn . She welcomes your comments and questions at her email address: amy.cook@rediffmail.com

Thoughts and feelings influence each other, meaning one can precede and affect the other one. The context I am using here is meta-cognition (thinking about how you are thinking). When you are mindful of how you are thinking, your emotions follow. On the other hand, if you are just thinking without giving much thought to what you are thinking about, your feelings may have a greater effect on your thinking without you being aware of it.

In general, however, I consider thoughts to be more proactive and feelings more reactive. Sometimes feelings just come up, seemingly on their own. By paying closer attention to your thoughts, and how positive or negative they are, you can provide more influence over how you feel.

For more on this subject, which is related to cognitive-behavioral therapy, check out these websites:

http://www.nacbt.org/whatiscbt.htm

http://www.sleepeducation.com/Treatment.aspx?id=5

Young children can sometimes have nightmares, and also can have what are called night terrors. Here are some questions I received recently on the subject:

1.  What is the difference between nightmares and night terrors, and what are some common causes of night terrors? Both are scary dreams for children, and may happen during times of stress, or after stressful events. Nightmares and night terrors are not typically caused by mental illness. Kids with strong imaginations and creativity may be more likely to experience them. The differences between them are: night terrors happen during deep sleep, deep enough that a child may sit up screaming with his or her eyes wide open, the child may sleepwalk. They often are inconsolable, they sometimes don’t respond to questions like “What’s wrong?” and saying, “It is okay” doesn’t really register with them. Another point: children generally do not remember the content of night terrors.
2.  If your child commonly suffers from night terrors, what is something that you can do to help reduce/get rid of their night terrors? During the daytime hours, listen to your child supportively if there was a recent emotional or traumatic event; maybe invite your child to draw pictures if it is tough for him or her to talk things out at first. You can also set aside a special stuffed animal that a child can sleep with for comfort. Night terrors usually stop by themselves as the child gets older. An important note about safety is be sure to keep toddler gates on staircases, keep outside doors locked, and don’t use bunk beds.
3.  Is there ever a time that you should seek medical advice for a child’s night terrors? You can talk with a child psychologist or therapist to discuss your concerns. If your child receives an injury while sleepwalking, talk with your doctor. If the night terrors or nightmares happen nightly, your doctor may want to do a sleep study on the child.

Here is a nice, straightforward resource on the subject: http://familydoctor.org/online/famdocen/home/children/parents/common/common/566.html

Dreams fascinate me. Okay, sometimes they fascinate me and other times they just don’t make sense. But dreams are another reminder that we are all definitely human and not some kind of machine that shuts on and off.

I have asked many clients about dreams they have, typically during intake if I think of it. Usually I ask how their sleep is overall and then ask if they have nightmares, bad dreams, or any recurring dreams. It’s the recurring dreams that get most of my attention, since I have come to believe that those dreams repeat so our mind can try to make sense of something. On the other hand, maybe our mind figured something out but we have been resisting the acceptance of it.

Anyway, I found an interesting article today that I’d like to share with you. The link is: http://www.divinecaroline.com/article/22201/62493-six-reasons-dreams , and in the article, Brie Cadman presents “Six Reasons We Have Bad Dreams”. I would offer one more: watching a disturbing or scary movie before bedtime.

I would also recommend the DivineCaroline.com site in general, since I have noticed there is quality writing about many life areas. Check it out!

Most people hate insomnia. The feeling of not being able to fall asleep despite being tired, the thoughts that race from one subject to another, the difficulty concentrating, and all the reasons you think of for needing rest can all add up to exhaust you. Of course, being exhausted doesn’t always help you get to sleep either.

So instead of fighting insomnia, switch your focus to getting rest, regardless of whether you sleep or not. Anxiety is tough to deal with, and is one of the main factors in preventing sleep. By decreasing your own anxiety and tension, you allow your body and mind to rest. Don’t get me wrong, sleep is an ideal way for the human body to recharge and reset itself. But if you can’t sleep, at least focus on relaxation.  If you happen to fall asleep while relaxing, enjoy it. Either way, you’re getting some rest.

For a few ideas on how to do decrease anxiety, check out my previous post: Decreasing Anxiety .