Sleep and mental health

What is mental health?

Mental health refers to your emotional and psychological well-being. Having good mental health helps you lead a relatively happy and healthy life. It helps you demonstrate resilience and the ability to cope in the face of life’s adversities.

Your mental health can be influenced by a variety of factors, including life events or even your genetics.

There are many strategies that can help you establish and keep good mental health. These can include:

• keeping a positive attitude
• staying physically active
• helping other people
• getting enough sleep
• eating a healthy diet
• asking for professional help with your mental health if you need it
• socializing with people whom you enjoy spending time with
• forming and using effective coping skills to deal with your problems

Sleep and mental health

Sleep is an important part of both physical and mental health. The American Academy of Sleep Medicine suggests that all adults should get at least 7 hours of sleep or more each night. Sleep needs are higher in children: Teens should get between 8 and 10 hours of sleep each night, with sleep needs increasing even more for younger age groups.

Too little sleep or poor-quality sleep can negatively affect your mental health. According to research from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), people who don’t get enough sleep (less than 6 hours per day) are 2.5 times more likely to experience frequent mental distress compared with people who get more than 6 hours of sleep each night.


Sleep issues have been linked to a number of different mental health conditions, including:

• depression
• anxiety disorders, such as panic disorders or obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD)
• post-traumatic stress disorder
• eating disorders
• psychiatric disorders, such as borderline personality disorder and schizophrenia

It’s possible that people with mental health conditions may be more likely to have trouble with sleep, which would explain why these disorders are so common among people with sleep concerns.


However, results from more than 65 studies demonstrate that improving sleep quality improves many aspects of mental health, including depression, anxiety, and stress. These results indicate a causal relationship between sleep and mental health concerns. This suggests that sleep issues can directly affect and the mental health of people with eczema.

Read more:

https://www.healthline.com/health/atopic-dermatitis/eczema-and-sleep#sleep-and-mental-health