Video Transcription
Ask a Therapist: Sleep
So, lack of sleep can really impact our concentration. It can impact our ability to focus. This can then come out in areas such as at work and at school, which can become a really big issue.
Hi, everyone. My name is Rashida Dungawala. I’m a registered psychologist, and I’m here today to talk to you about sleep. [Music]
Sleep problems in young people are pretty common. It’s actually very normal if your sleep is disturbed as a young person. So, we have sleep deprivation, where it might be harder to fall asleep when you’re getting into bed and going to sleep at night. Then, we have disrupted sleep, where we’re actually having broken sleep throughout the night. You might be waking up quite frequently and finding it harder to go back to sleep. And then, oversleeping, where in the morning you might find it really difficult to get up and start your day, or you’re feeling really fatigued and you want to keep sleeping.
The type of lifestyle that we often live these days is very productive, it’s very active. Sometimes, those activities and that productivity can go into the hours that we’re meant to be sleeping. When we’re experiencing broken sleep or issues with our sleep, it impacts our mental health, and then when we’re experiencing poor mental health, stress, anxiety throughout the day, that then impacts our sleep the following night.
So, the good news is there’s many things that we can be doing to improve our sleep. The amount of light that we’re exposed to can really impact our sleep and the quality of our sleep. When we wake up in the morning, we want to be exposing ourselves to a lot of light, whether that’s daylight or artificial light. When we’re actually in bed and going to bed, we want to make sure that our room is as dark as we can get it.
We’re using a lot of devices before we’re going to bed, but we really want to limit the use of those devices, especially in those hours before we’re trying to sleep. As we know, a lot of the worries and stresses that we’re facing throughout our waking hours can flow into the hours that we’re trying to go to sleep. When we’re not distracted, our brain assumes that this is the perfect time to solve that problem. So, when we’re trying to go to sleep, if there are things that we’ve been worrying about, they all start surfacing.
What we can do is we can write down some of the worries that are coming up when we are trying to go to sleep or even throughout our waking days. We can see themes that might start to appear, and then, based on those themes, we can allocate time throughout our waking hours where we can dedicate to problem-solving. We can do that so that it doesn’t impact our sleep.
And when we’re alone, trying to go to sleep, with some of these sleep hygiene strategies, they might take a while to really be noticeable in the impact that they’re having. Sometimes, we can assume that if it’s not working after a week or two, that it’s not working at all, and then we put more responsibility on ourselves and blame on ourselves. After a couple of months, if we’re noticing that these strategies are still not having the impact that we want, we can start reaching out for support—from friends, family, or medical professionals, including your psychologist or your GP.
I really want to encourage you to not underestimate the importance of sleep. Sleep is going to have a really huge impact on not only our emotional, mental, and physical health, but it’s also going to have an impact on our overall well-being. These strategies and these tips are a really great place to start. If you still need additional support, then you can reach out for it.
Video by headspace
