Victoria Sedgwick

Would you like to feel the following? 

1. Energised throughout the day. 

2. Decreased levels of anxiety. 

3. Help to regulate your blood sugars & blood pressure. 

4. Have a mind that is engaged in learning and remembering. 

5. Have a better relationship with yourself and others. 

6. Feel you have more personal power. 

This blog will discuss how the most valuable tool that we have can start making an incredible positive impact for your mental wellbeing within 48 hours, this tool is called a sleep plan. 

Sleep is the most effective tool to recharge and reset your brain for your physical and mental wellbeing health. 

Having just one bad night sleep can have an incredible toll on your cognitive function, energy levels, thought process, your ability to cope with challenges that you face that day and your mental health. 

The longer you go without or have disturbed sleep your scales of mental health wellbeing start to tip in the wrong direction. 

There is a sleep loss epidemic, which is causing a sleep depression state known as the sleep hangover. 

What could happen if sleep is deprived over prolonged periods of time? 

• Increased risk of heart disease 
• Increased risk of kidney disease 
• Increase in blood pressure. 
• Risk of diabetes & stroke 
• Weight gain 
• Depression and anxiety 
• Negative thought processing 
• Increase in aging cells. 
• Reduced immune system. 
• Increased risk of Alzheimer disease 
• Decrease in mental wellbeing. 
• Performance levels decreased. 
• Reduced libido. 
• Increased infections 
• Uncontrolled micro sleep starts to kick in, which last around 1 to 2 seconds. 

How many nights of disturbed sleep before this can start taking a negative affect? 

As an adult you need about 7 to 8 hours of sleep each night. Sometimes work, lifestyle, friends, family, your own mind, or other factors may disrupt your sleep. When you get less sleep, this is known as sleep deprivation. 

For many people, having the odd night a week isn’t cause for concern, when the sleep deprivation becomes more frequent and/or prolonged this could start causing health issues physically and mentally. 

In general, there are five stages of sleep deprivation, each stage represents 1 to 5 disturbed nights of sleep – the higher the stage the more you are at risk of experiencing sleep deprivation symptom.

The best tool you have to create a better wellbeing both physically and mental is sleep. I challenge you for 7 days to create a routine of sleep. 

Create a sleep plan that works for you so you may eventually achieve your goal of 8 hours sleep. 

Tips on how to create a sleep plan. 

1. If you share a bed with someone, get them involved in the sleep plan. 

2. Think about why you can’t sleep or have sleep disturbance, then put steps into place to change. 

3. Do you both go to bed at the same time and wake up at the same time? 1 in 4 couples have reported sleeping in separate beds which has created a better relationship with themselves and each other. 

4. What time would you like to create a routine of getting into bed? 

5. What does the routine look like 30-minutes before going to bed? 

6. What time are you going to wake up, and how quickly can you bring light into the room on waking up? 

7. What is your relationship with your bedroom? 

8. What strategies do you need if you’re having difficulties getting to or staying asleep? 

We would love to hear about your sleep plan and how your 7-day challenge to achieve better quality sleep went! 

This blog was written by Victoria Sedgwick is the Founder of Happy Mental Health and a Mental Health First Aid Trainer for Tigerlily.