mental health | the importance of sleep

One of the most difficult but possible one of the most important things in creating an optimal environment for both mental health and coping with the symptoms of mental illness, is sleep. This is particularly true when it comes to mood disorders such as bipolar disorder, schizoaffective disorder as well as anxiety and psychosis but really, inadequate sleep will have a detrimental impact on anybody’s mental health, it’s just particularly worse for those of us with mental illnesses.

There are quite an array of sleep health posts scattered about the Internet universe but very few that have neurodivergency and mental ill health in mind when writing them – this is where we come in! Flourish You is run exclusively by people with mental illness and neurodivergency and while we know that everyone’s symptoms and traits are unique to them, the fact we are living inside minds and bodies that understand better we hope that insight will help create a more realistic take on things.

Firstly let’s look at our sleeping habits! Lots of us rely on our phones and social media, apps, etc as an outlet as well as providing connection so I’m not going to talk about completely eradicating screens hours before bedtime because for me personally, that would make me extremely anxious and unsettled and I will hazard a guess and say some of you might feel the same, so with that in mind…

sleep habits

+ limit blue light – I know most of us find comfort in our phones and the connection they give us and if putting it down before bed is too anxiety inducing for you too, choosing the setting to reduce the blue light your phone emits at a certain time everyday can help this. iPhones have an automatic timer you can set that will change the amount of blue light your phone will emit at a certain time everyday – this is particularly useful for those of us who would otherwise forget.

+ have some kind of routine to help your body learn when it’s time to sleep – even if this is something like tucking yourself up with a weighted blanket or having a cup of hot chocolate. Something you do every night will become a habit and help your body to recognise it’s time to get sleepy.

+ do a brain dump before sleeping – this will hopefully make you feel more relaxed by getting everything out of your head onto paper. You don’t need to use a notebook, I know some of us might find physically writing tricky but even just using the notes app on your phone, recording a video or a sending voice note to yourself.

+ filling out a mood tracker – there are some great apps for this but personally I use DailyBean and the official BipolarUK one (although this is more focused on Bipolar specific mood tracking). I prefer the DailyBean because you can have cute little graphics for each emotion. Mood diaries are great additions to managing mental illnesses such as BPD and Bipolar.

example sleep routine

9:00pm –
+ evening snack (going to bed hungry can lead to difficulty drifting off and early wake ups due to low blood sugar)

9:30pm –

+bath with a relaxing bubble bath (dr teal’s is a good shout!)
+ a cup of soothing sleepy tea or hot chocolate
+ reduce phone brightness

10pm –

+dim the lights
+ spray pillow spray onto your bedding
+ tuck yourself under a weighted blanket

10:30pm –

+ turn on white noise/nature sounds

Remember to also fit your night meds in however you normally do. If you are taking sedating medication to help you sleep then fit the timings in around that to maximise its benefit.

products that can help aid sleep

+ slumberdown weighted blanket*
+ lush twilight pillow spray
+ white noise (I use Alexa or Google Home)
+ dr teals bath products*

I hope this has been helpful in some way, feel free to leave any of your own tips in the comments!

*post contains gifted items