We know sleep is important yet it seems to be the first thing to shift down the priority list when life gets busy.
Sleep helps to regulate stress and emotions, so choosing not to prioritise sleep when things get tough will only make it harder (Weinberg, Noble, & Hammond, 2016). The brain is the driver of the body’s ability to identify and manage negative emotions and sleep acts like a bit of system reset so it can continue to work efficiently when required (Weinberg, Noble, & Hammond, 2016).
When it comes to stress and sleep there is a bidirectional relationship, meaning sleep affects stress levels but stress can also affect your ability to get quality sleep (Brand, et al., 2014). There is some evidence that having mental toughness improves sleep quality, makes it easier to fall asleep and reduces that number of times you wake up after falling asleep (Brand, et al., 2014). This makes sense, because mental toughness would reduce the likelihood of ruminating on stressful events.
How much sleep should you be aiming for each night? The National Sleep Foundation sleep duration recommendations are (Hirshkowitch, et al., 2015):
- Newborns: 14-17 hours
- Infants: 12-15 hours
- Toddlers: 11-14 hours
- Pre-schoolers: 10-13 hours
- School-aged children: 9-11 hours
- Teenagers: 8-10 hours
- Young adults: 7-9 hours
- Adults and Older Adults: 7-8 hours
Whilst the amount of time you spent sleeping is important, the quality of your sleep also needs to be considered (Sadeghi-Bahmani & Brand, 2022). Sleep quality is determined by how long it takes you to fall asleep, how many times you wake up during your sleep period and how long you are awake for (Ohayon, et al., 2017).
Ideally you should be falling asleep within about 20 minutes of your head hitting the pillow, you should have minimal periods of waking, your sleep should contain 4-6 REM episodes and should last around 7-8 hours (Johnson & Czeisler, 2022).
Some common sleep hygiene tips (Szklo-Coxe, Leser, & Lubas, 2022):
- Go to bed and wake up at the same time everyday
- Avoid caffeine after lunch
- Don’t exercising or watch screens too close to bedtime
- Have a cool, dark, quiet room for sleeping
Sleep hygiene alone may not be adequate to quieten your mind enough to settle into sleep. Mindfulness Meditation has been shown to work for older adults with sleep difficulties to improve their sleep quality (Black, O’Reilly, Olmstead, Breen, & Irwin, 2015). To further explore the use of mindfulness meditation for sleep enhancement Calm conducted research on their user base and noted a majority of users reported the sleep stories, sleep meditations and music/soundscapes had positive impacts on their ability to fall asleep, stay asleep and get restful sleep (Huberty, Puzia, Larkey, Vranceanu, & Irwin, 2021).
Utilising sleep stories and mindfulness meditation could be a great place to start if you are needing to improve the duration or quality of your sleep. Some of the available apps are subscription based, so here are some FREE recommendations for you to explore:
References
Black, D. S., O’Reilly, G., Olmstead, R., Breen, E. C., & Irwin, M. R. (2015). Mindfulness Meditation and Improvement in Sleep Quality and Daytime Impairment Among Older Adults with Sleep Disturbances: A Randomized Clinical Trial. JAMA Internal Medicine, 175(4), 494-501. https://doi.org/10.1001/jamainternmed.2014.8081
Brand, S., Gerber, M., Kalak, N., Kirov, R., Lemola, S., Clough, P. J., Puhse, U., & Holsboer-Trachsler, E. (2014). “Sleep Well, Our Tough Heroes!” – In Adolescence, Greater Mental Toughness is Related to Better Sleep Schedules. Behavioural Sleep Medicine, 12, 444-454. https://doi.org/10.1080/15402002.2013.825839
Hirshkowitch, M., Whiton, K., Albert, S. M., Alessi, C., Bruni, O., DonCarlos, L., Hazen, N., Herman, J., Adams Hillard, P. J., Katz, E. S., Kheirandish-Gozal, L., Neubauer, D. N., O’Donnell, A. E., Ohayon, M., Peever, J., Rawding, R., Sachdeva, R. C., Setters, B., Vitiello, M. V., & Ware, J. C. (2015). National Sleep Foundation’s updated sleep duration recommendations: final report. Sleep Health, 1(4), 233-243. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sleh.2015.10.004
Huberty, J., Puzia, M. E., Larkey, L., Vranceanu, A.-M., & Irwin, M. R. (2021). Can a meditation app help my sleep? A cross-sectional survey of Calm users. PloS One, 16(10), Article e0257518. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0257518
Johnson, D. A., & Czeisler, C. A. (2022). Components of normal human sleep. In J. F. Nieto, & D. J. Petersen, Foundations of Sleep Health (pp. 1-12). Academic Press.
Ohayon, M., Wickwire, E. M., Hirshkowitz, M., Albert, S. M., Avidan, A., Daly, F. J., Dauvilliers, Y., Ferri, R., Fung, C., Gozal, D., Hazen, N., Krystal, A., Lichstein, K., Mallampalli, M., Plazzi, G., Rawding, R., Scheer, F. A., Somers, V., & Vitiello, M. V. (2017). National Sleep Foundation’s Sleep Quality Recommendations: first report. Sleep Health, 3, 6-19. http://doi.org/10.1016/j.sleh.2016.11.006
Sadeghi-Bahmani, D., & Brand, S. (2022). Sleep Medicine Reviews “Stay hungry, stay foolish, stay tough and sleep well!”; why resilience and mental toughness and restoring sleep are associated. Sleep medicine reviews, 62, 101618. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.smrv.2022.101618
Szklo-Coxe, M., Leser, K. A., & Lubas, M. M. (2022). Psychosocial dimensions of sleep health. In J. F. Nieto, & D. J. Petersen, Foundations of Sleep Health (pp. 97-122). Academic Press.
Weinberg, M. K., Noble, J. M., & Hammond, T. G. (2016). Sleep well feel well: An investigation into the protective value of sleep quality on subjective well-being. Australian Journal of Psychology, 68, 91-97. https://doi.org/10.1111/ajpy.12098
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