The Critical Role of Sleep in Mental Health–and Why Your Doctor Is Getting It Wrong: Part I

Sleep is an extremely important topic. Despite amazing scientific and technological advancements in 21st century, remarkable advances in the area of Sleep The vast majority of health professionals are unaware, ignore, or discount medicine.

This vacuum in clinical knowledge regarding sleep is evident more than in the treatment and management of insomnia. Mental health Patients who suffer from sleep disorders often complain and struggle.

Many suffer from mental health issues like Anxiety, depressionKnown as post-traumatic stress disorder or PTS (Post-traumatic Stress Disorder).PTSDSuicidal thoughts or behavior, and those with suicidal thoughts/behaviors, almost always agonize over coexisting sleep disorders that can be treated. These conditions are rarely examined or treated with modern sleep medicine.

Instead, individuals wrestling with mental health and sleep disorders are instructed—sometimes for years—to believe in only two approaches to sleep complaints. Foremost, their physicians and therapists—with sincere intentions—explain how sleep problems should vanish once mental health is restored. Mental illness can impact sleep so the first step is to fix the mental condition.

Or they may be prescribed any sedating medication that is available in the “Physicians’ Desk Reference.” Mental health patients often hear both theories and are convinced to take prescriptions or over-the counter drugs until their mental condition improves.

Not only are these theories wrong in 90 percent of those diagnosed with mental health disorders and co-existing sleep symptoms—they may be dead wrong for those unfortunate souls whose sleep disorders proved far more incapacitating than anyone was able to recognize and properly treat.

Sleep is important for your mental well-being. Research over three decades has shown that sleep problems can be treated independently of your mental health.

Now, here’s the unbelievable irony: Most mental health patients already know this truth about sleep. Contrary to that, very few health care professionals have listened to this advice. Instead, mental patients seek out expert sleep health evaluations and treatments that go beyond pills because they believe better sleep will result in better mental health.

Patients will be remembered for their ability to see and experience the clinical pearl that was meaningful in their lives. Unfortunately, this took researchers and health care professionals decades to discover scientifically.

These facts have been repeatedly demonstrated for conditions such as anxiety, depression, and PTSD—and to some extent for suicidal thoughts or behaviors. This information should be welcomed and spread widely to ensure that mental health patients get the treatment they require. To be precise—potent, evidence-based, independent interventions (largely drug-free) for sleep disorders will improve these mental health complaints and sometimes cure them.

For now, the puzzle is: How can so many health care professionals in so many clinical areas of psychology and medicine over the past 30 years ignore all the scientific evidence?

You may be surprised at the answer. These professionals, though well-intentioned, were following the convention that sleep refers to the hours of sleep and its corollary the hours of uninterrupted sleep (sleep continuity).

This old theory about the quantity of sleep has been replaced by a biologically relevant theory. “quality of sleep.” Pause for a moment and ask yourself—how many times in your life have you heard, “quality over quantity” Is that what really matters?

No exception is sleep. The mistaken assumption that sleep quantity or consistency is what drives sleep disturbances means that most health care professionals focus only on this aspect of sleep. As they are accustomed to treating those with difficulties falling asleep or staying asleep—namely insomnia—it seems to make perfect sense to focus on sleep hours. The catch is, nearly all insomniacs also suffer nonrestorative sleep—aka poor sleep quality—which typically proves more pivotal in fueling the insomnia.

The insomnia angle is only one of two things that can lead health care professionals to place quality over quantity. More problematic is the implicit biases and explicit beliefs that sleep problems in mental health patients are solely caused by psychological factors. This is a good thing. “it’s-all-in-your-mind” While the approach is within striking distance of the target, it still misses it by a mile because of a very large, unknown, and physical reason.

Your mind is located in your brain. This is where the most sleep can be observed. How do we see sleep in our brains? Easy—your brain generates specific, physiologically-driven, electrical impulses that measure the depth and quality of slumber. This knowledge is essential to understand that all aspects of your sleep include this physiological (physical), dimension. Therefore, no one can accurately label your sleep problems solely psychological.

The measurement of sleep is, in all likelihood, analogous to the measurement electrical impulses from your brain. Psychological factors are rarely the cause of heart arrhythmia. Sleep problems are not caused solely by psychological factors.

Much more awaits you as we dig deeper into sleep physiology—what you learn next will enhance your appreciation for sleep’s huge impact on your health. You may have heard of liver or kidney failure, which is a serious condition in which your major organs fail to eliminate toxic waste material from your body. Toxic waste buildup can cause death when there is total failure.

We are now at “brain failure,” A condition that causes severe strokes or head trauma. Although brain failure due to sleep can be more gradual than other conditions, it can also have serious consequences. It is impossible to predict when the brain is most active in eliminating toxicity.

If you guessed “sleeping,” It’d be a good start, but this isn’t just any sleep. It’s deep sleep. Deeper sleep will make you feel better. “brain-washing” system works. This brings us back to the original point. To get deeper sleep, you must have the best possible quality of rest.

You know that counting the hours of sleep is as futile as counting sheep. We’ll guide you to new and exciting opportunities to improve your sleep quality, and thus improve your brain health and mental well-being.

These points could save your life.

Read Part II – Part II: Poor quality sleep can lead to a variety of conditions.

These EpochHealth articles are intended to be used as information and not as a substitute or replacement for individual medical advice. Refer to a trusted professional for your personal medical advice, diagnosis, treatment. Have a question? We are available at [email protected]