Getting Some Zzzzz's: The Importance of Sleep
Episode Description
Sleep is just as important for mental health as it is physical health. During sleep, our brains process our memories, emotions, and other information. In this episode of "Mind Your Mind," April Morris tells us why sleep is so important for overall well-being and encourages us to prioritize sleep. April, a therapist at Dakota Family Services, provides practical tips for improving sleep hygiene so you can live your best life.What to Expect
- Understand the importance of sleep for both physical and mental health.
- Learn about how a lack of sleep affects different areas of the brain.
- Explore ways to practice good sleep hygiene and to create a good sleep routine.
Resources: Learn More
Why Do We Need Sleep? (Sleep Foundation)
How to Sleep Better: 15 Science-Backed Tips for Your Best Rest (Headspace)
How to Get on a Sleep Schedule (Sleep.org)
Things to Think About
- Are you getting enough sleep?
- How do you need to modify your day and nighttime routines to get better sleep?
- Is a lack of good sleep affecting the rest of your day in a negative way?
About the Hosts
April Morris, LCSW, provides outpatient therapy for adolescents and adults age 16 and over. She uses a multi-faceted trauma-informed therapy approach including a variety of therapy techniques. She enjoys working with clients from all walks of life, and is honored to join them on their mental health journey and help them build skills to adapt to life challenges.
Transcript
Getting Some Zzzzz's: The Importance of Sleep
Featuring April Morris, LCSW, Dakota Family Services
Tim Unsinn: Welcome to Mind Your Mind, a podcast presented by Dakota Family Services, an outpatient behavioral health clinic located in Minot, Bismarck, and Fargo, North Dakota. In this podcast, I will talk with our experts about understanding and nurturing our mental health and wellness. I'm your host, Tim Unsinn. Join me each episode as we explore the intricacies of our minds, decrease the stigma of mental illness, learn practical tips for managing our mental health and wellbeing, and recognize when it's time to ask for help. Join me now to Mind Your Mind.
TU: Welcome to this episode of Mind Your Mind. Our guest is April Morris. April is an outpatient therapist in Fargo and provides therapy for those over 16, primarily adults. April, it's great to have you on Mind Your Mind.
April Morris: Thanks for having me.
TU: Our topic is something that is not overrated very often, and that is sleep. However, before we get to the topic, there's a question I ask all of our guests of Mind Your Mind: Why do you do what you do?
AM: Definitely a hard question to answer. I think there's a lot of reasons why I'm drawn to what I do, but I really like to teach. I like to help people learn new things. And I also like to keep learning, and in this field, you're definitely always learning. And I'm just really humbled to be part of someone's story.
TU: Thanks April. Our topic is sleep and this is one that seems to get not a lot of attention, but is really so important for our bodies, not just our physical, but our mental health. So how does sleep impact mental health?
AM: Well, it is so unbelievably important. It's something that spans across all generations, no matter what age we need it, right? So it's like having gas for your car. You have to have it, or it's not going to work or run. And just like signs that we would take if our gas is running low, we have to take signs of when our bodies, you know, running low on sleep, what sleep deprivation would look like, just like dehydration or anything else. So super important. Impacts [to] our mental health are huge. We can be more moody, sensitive, irritable, impulsive. [It] really can impact our relationships, as well as our functioning. Our concentration's down, our memories changed. The amygdala's actually in charge of our emotional response. And there was a study done that 60% of people were more emotionally reactive if they were sleep-deprived.
AM: Also our prefrontal cortex is essentially our voice of reason to emotions and impulse control. So sleep impacts both of those immensely. The hypothalamus keeps hormone balance. So, for example, if we have too much cortisol in our body, it puts us in a greater state of stress, let's say, and you know what it's like when we have increased stress; that also impacts our mood, mood disorders, sleep disorders in general. During sleep, our memories, emotions, and other information are being processed and stored, so it's very important that we get restful sleep. Ten to 18% of the general population have sleep concerns. Fifty to 80% of those are people with mental health disorders. So it drastically increases for those already struggling with anxiety or depression. Other health consequences, like when we talked about physical consequences, you're at an increased rate for heart disease, diabetes, right? Physical concerns in addition to your mental health.
TU: So you talk about the lack of sleep and you know, I think of people when they're hungry, they're angry, we call that hangry. So if we're sleep deprived and we're angry, it's "slangry." I guess we'll go with "slangry" as a new word. So mental health, now we're talking about sleep hygiene. What exactly is sleep hygiene? Is that something I can get at the store?
AM: Okay, well, you can't get it at a store, but just like hygiene for your teeth, your skin or other body parts, it's just how we care for ourselves. Right? So healthy habits for sleep is what sleep hygiene is. Some things that you can think about that are important to do during the day. Getting enough sunlight, right? Physical activity; trying not to eat too late at night. They say three to four hours is how long it takes for your stomach to empty. And also just avoiding disruptive foods like spicy, greasy foods that might give you heartburn and keep you up all night. Limiting naps, right? Ideally avoiding naps, but limiting them to 20 to 30 minutes is kind of the ideal recommended timeframe and keeping a fixed wake-up time. So no matter what you always want to keep your body on the same wake-time. Of course, avoiding caffeine, nicotine alcohol; that all impacts how we flow through our sleep cycles. So ideally caffeine and nicotine would be avoided at least six hours before bed.
TU: So we often hear about people that have "accountability buddies" for different things. How easy or hard would it be to, you know, have that accountability buddy for sleep to make sure that you're getting enough sleep. Are you like checking in on somebody? How would that work out?
AM: You know, that might work out because, you know, even just checking in and having somebody that knows that you're prioritizing sleep, right? So it's really easy for us to stay out late and do a lot of social things or when you're in school staying up late to study, but it is hard. We need to prioritize sleep because it impacts our functioning greatly. So it actually impacts your school by staying up late. So it's kind of counterproductive, right? So, some of the things that we do is establish our same routine that we do every night. Start about 30 minutes before bedtime, make sure your room is comfortable, cool temperature, a comfortable bedding, blocking out the light if you can. Dim your lights closer to bedtime; they actually say that it hinders our melatonin production, the bright lights. And moving into that, of course, everybody talks about electronics, right?
AM: We should try to limit them an hour before bed; the blue light impacts our melatonin. I know a lot of people say, "Well, I can't sleep without the TV on." Okay, can you use white noise machine? Or at the very least set a timer because you don't want it to impact all of your sleep cycles all night long. So at the very least, if you just can't give it up, a timer would be good. And a lot of people try to just engage in calming activities before bed, right? So there's different apps like the Calm app and Headspace; [they're] super popular. Doing progressive muscle relaxation, guided imagery, just some calming body activities that you can do about 30 minutes before bed. And don't get overwhelmed if you feel like, "Oh my gosh, I'm not doing any of these things." You can start to implement a couple of things into your routine over time and really develop good sleep hygiene.
TU: I always say the beauty of podcast, [there's] an opportunity to rewind, listen again, rewind, listen again. It's just that easy. April, some great information; thank you. That really helps us out. Now, as we wrap up, our topic was sleeping. As we wrap up, I have one last question for you. What do you do personally, to mind your mind? I know sleep is a big one for you trying to get some of that these days.
AM: Yes. I definitely have small children, so getting enough sleep is challenging. I think a big part of that is just making sure I'm staying active with my family. During the day, they do keep me busy. I enjoy the lakes and I think something else to consider, too, is just asking for help if I'm really tired and just making sure that I'm getting help. And you just got to take care of yourself.
TU: April Morris has been our guest on Mind Your Mind. Our topic was sleep. April is an outpatient therapist in Fargo and provides therapy for those over 16, primarily adults. April, thank you for your time.
TU: Thank you for joining us for Mind Your Mind, a podcast presented by Dakota Family Services. You can't have health without behavioral health. Remember to mind your mind. For more information, links to additional resources, contact information, and much more, go to dakotafamilyservices.org.
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While OCD is sometimes perceived as simply a desire to keep things neat and organized, it can actually have much more severe symptoms for those who experience it. In this episode of Mind Your Mind, host Tim Unsinn meets with psychologist Dr. Megan Spencer to talk about who Obsessive Compulsive Disorder affects, what its signs and symptoms are, and how to seek help if you or a loved one has been diagnosed with OCD.;
Breaking Bad Habits
Bad habits can be easy to start but sometimes very difficult to stop. In this episode of Mind Your Mind, host Tim Unsinn and therapist Falan Johnson talk about breaking bad habits, including where habits come from, how to know if a habit is bad, and steps you can take to stop it.;
Finding a Therapist
Are you looking for some help on your mental health journey? In this episode of Mind Your Mind, host Tim Unsinn and therapist Jessie Mertz talk about how to find a therapist, including what you should know when searching and what questions to ask when you meet a therapist for the first time. They also touch on what the letters after a therapist’s name mean, and how they apply to the type of services or treatment you might be looking for.;
Coping with Rejection
Whether it’s from asking someone on a date or applying for a job, we all experience rejection at some point in our lives. In this episode of Mind Your Mind, host Tim Unsinn talks with therapist April Morris about how to cope with rejection, including the common coping stages, the importance of acceptance, and how rejection can impact people differently.;
Borderline Personality Disorder
Like other personality disorders, borderline personality disorder is a commonly misunderstood and stigmatized mental illness. In this episode of Mind Your Mind, host Tim Unsinn talks with Lucas Mitzel, a therapist at Dakota Family Services, about what BPD is, how it affects someone’s behavior, and where to seek treatment if your child has been diagnosed with BPD.;
Psychological Assessments: What to Expect
Do you think you might be suffering from an undiagnosed mental disorder? If so, a psychological assessment might be able to help. In this episode of Mind Your Mind, psychologist Dr. Hannah Baczynski and host Tim Unsinn talk about what to expect from a psychological assessment, including what an assessment might include, what information you might receive from the psychologist, and what you should communicate with your psychologist before and after receiving an assessment.;
Supplements in Psychiatry
In this episode of Mind Your Mind, host Tim Unsinn and Amanda Daggett explore the topic of using supplements for mental health. In addition to talking about some of the most commonly used supplements like melatonin and St. John’s Wort, they also discuss the benefits, the risks, and the research surrounding various supplements.;
Seasonal Affective Disorder (Community Chat Series)
Feeling like you’ve got the winter blues? If you’re noticing symptoms of depression with the change of seasons, it may be a sign that you’re suffering from Seasonal Affective Disorder, or SAD. In this special Community Chat episode of Mind Your Mind, therapists Christy Wilkie and Lucas Mitzel discuss the common symptoms of Seasonal Affective Disorder, how it can affect other mental health disorders, and some useful tips, tricks, and resources for managing symptoms of SAD.;
Trying New Things With Confidence
Join Christy and Lucas, therapists at Dakota Family Services, as they share practical tips for building confidence when trying new things. From managing self-doubt to building resilience, this episode will empower you to approach new experiences with a positive mindset.;
Relationships are Hard
In this episode, Christy and Lucas explore why relationships can be so hard. Join them as they discuss the characteristics of both healthy and toxic relationships, talk about the difference between normal conflict and abuse, and help you discover your love languages so you and your partner can best express your love to each other.;
Is Everybody Anxious?
In this episode, Christy and Lucas explore anxiety. Join them as they discuss the signs and symptoms of an anxiety disorder, what you can do to decrease your anxiety, and how to best help loved ones struggling with anxiety.;
Is Everyone Feeling Sad
In this episode, Christy and Lucas explore depression. Join them as they discuss the signs and symptoms of Major Depressive Disorder, what you can do to help yourself feel better, and what you can do to help your loved ones. They will talk about coping strategies, therapy interventions, and ways to help you identify when your child might need extra help.;
Change is Hard
Change is inevitable. Join Christy and Lucas as they explore big and small changes and how they impact you. Learn why change can be so hard, even good change, and discover ways to manage it effectively.;
We Need to Talk About Suicide
In this episode of "Is It Just Me," Christy and Lucas discuss the very important topic of suicide. Listen to learn about risk factors, warning signs, and what you can do to help a loved one who is struggling. Remember, you are not alone. If you need immediate assistance, call 911. If you need to talk to someone, call the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline at 988.;
Do We Need to Get Outside?
Join Lucas and Christy as they explore the power of spending time outdoors on mental and emotional well-being. Discover practical tips, personal anecdotes, and expert insights on the benefits of getting outside and reconnecting with nature.;
Exploring ADHD
In this episode of "Is It Just Me?" Lucas and Christy discuss ADHD, shedding light on its prevalence and impact on daily life. Learn practical strategies for managing symptoms and understand why your friend or loved one with ADHD does the things they do.;
Internet Safety and Mental Health
In this episode of "Is It Just Me?", join our hosts Christy and Lucas as they delve into the complex relationship between the internet and mental health. With the digital age bringing information and social connections to our fingertips, it also presents unique challenges and opportunities for our safety and psychological well-being.;
Boosting Self-Esteem: From Marathons to Daily Triumphs
In this episode of "Is It Just Me?", Christy and Lucas discuss how common it is for people to see themselves differently from others. Using their own personal triumphs and challenges as examples, they outline the things that shape our self-esteem. Additionally, they share simple daily practices to help listeners recognize and celebrate their own personal victories. This episode is filled with tips and engaging stories aimed at encouraging listeners to undertake challenges that foster self-growth and personal confidence.;
Therapy Unveiled: What to Know Before You Go
In this episode of "Is It Just Me," Lucas and Christy talk about what it's like to begin therapy. Feeling apprehensive about starting therapy is normal, but surmountable. Together, Lucas and Christy unravel common myths about therapy and emphasize the role of therapy in disrupting negative life patterns and routines that are no longer serving you.;
Coping with the Back-to-School Blues
In the latest episode of “Is It Just Me?” Christy and Lucas tackle the transition from leisurely summer days to structured school schedules with warmth and wisdom. This episode is a must-listen for parents seeking guidance and strategies to help navigate the shift with confidence. Learn how to handle changes in routine, the importance of communication, and strategies to help the entire family adjust to and embrace the new normal. Listening to this episode can be your first step toward making back-to-school a season of growth and positive change for all.;
The Art of Overcoming Trauma
In this month’s episode of the "Is It Just Me?" podcast, Lucas Mitzel and Christy Wilkie, Dakota Family Services, dive into the complexities of trauma and its therapy. The episode sheds light on Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (TF-CBT) and the importance of creating a trauma narrative as a cornerstone of healing. The thoughtful discussions aim to educate listeners on the intricacies of trauma, the innovative methods used in therapy, and the role of caregivers in the recovery process. Through expert insights and compassionate storytelling, Lucas and Christy provide practical advice and real-world examples for individuals who have experienced trauma.;
Navigating Life Through Mindfulness
In this episode of “Is It Just Me?”, Lucas and Christy delve into the world of mindfulness and relaxation techniques. From body scans to mindfulness exercises, they provide a soothing experience to help you unwind and distress. Discover practical tips and advice on incorporating mindfulness into your daily routine and learn how to prioritize mental well-being in today's fast-paced world.;
Mindfulness: Body Scan
In this special additional episode of “Is It Just Me” join therapist Lucas Mitzel as he gives listeners a transformative journey within their own body and mind. In this episode, Lucas guides listeners through a soothing body scan to promote calm, mindfulness, and inner peace. This episode offers a unique mixdown of gentle narration, and relaxation techniques, leaving you feeling refreshed, rejuvenated, and more connected to yourself.;