Harvard Mental Health Letter “Sleep deprivation can affect your mental health”. Having sound sleep is a healing and significant component to good mental health. In fact the top three are:
1. Sleep. Wake and sleep schedules. Early to bed and early to rise are healthy.
2. Food. Proper eating habits with 3 balanced meals a day.
3. Exercise. Maintaining a “therapeutic” heart rate for at least 25 min per day.
The American culture is known for being sleep deprived. “Chronic sleep problems affect 50% to 80% of patients in a typical psychiatric practice, compared with 10% to 18% of adults in the general U.S. population. Sleep problems are particularly common in patients with anxiety, depression, bipolar disorder, and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).” **
Researchers from Ball State University in Muncie, Ind., using data from the National Health Interview Survey of self-reports of sleep duration among 150,000 adults working from 2010 to 2018. Researchers identified a significant trend of inadequate sleep, (defined as seven hours or less), increased from 30.9% in 2010 to 35.6% in 2018. ***
Building good personal habits that drive health also drive mental health. The old saying “you are what you eat” maybe should be “you are what you eat, sleep and exercise”.
**Harvard Mental Health Letter
***Huffpost.com Panic Attacks and Night Terrors…
P/C Anthony Tran
