How Sleep Can Impact Your Mental Health

Getting a good night’s sleep seems like a harder task than ever before. Between managing all of the stresses of the day, and then making sure that your bedroom environment is conductive to a comfortable sleep position and sleep schedule, there are many factors which can influence your sleep quality.

The fact of the matter is, if you aren’t getting the recommended seven to nine hours of sleep every night you can actually putting your health at risk. Not only could your physical health decrease, but your mental and emotional health can be affected, too. Here are some of the most important ways that a healthy sleep schedule can help your mental health:

  1. Sleep and Quality of Life. According to a 2015 survey from the National Sleep Foundation, people who rated their overall quality of life as “very good” or “excellent” typically received 18-23 more minutes of sleep than those who rated their quality of life as “good” or “poor.”


  1. Your memory will be better.Research from 2015 found that getting enough sleep every night can double your chances of remembering information which you’ve previously forgotten.


  1. You’ll be able to focus on daily tasks.When you’re not getting enough high-quality sleep, focusing on even the simplest tasks can be difficult. Add this to sitting at a desk all day, and you’ll find that it’s pretty hard not to fall asleep at work. In fact, one study from the Harvard Medical School found that 25% of American workers have insomnia, and this costs employers around $63 billion in lost productivity every single year.


  1. Decisions won’t be so difficult.Another study from the University of Amsterdam found that decision-making abilities, including decisions made unconsciously, are severely impaired when a person’s sleep quality is not up to par.

However, you manage to get your rest at night, know that high sleep quality is a huge investment for your mental wellbeing and simply can’t be ignored.



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