Wilson Counseling: The Armchair Chronicles

How much sleep do you get a night? The answer to that question could tell me a lot about how well you are able to handle the every day stresses of life. The National Sleep Foundation recommends 7-9 hours a night for adults. One major study has shown that people with insomnia are five times more likely to develop depression and twenty times more likely to develop a panic disorder (a type of anxiety disorder). People who got only 4.5 hours of sleep reported feeling more stressed, angry, sad and mentally tired. Wow. But, before you panic about your poor sleeping patterns, read on to find out what you can do to get better sleep, and be a better you. In a previous post, I discussed the effect of blue light from devices like smart phones on your sleep. Besides turning off those devices at least two hours before bed, there are quite a few other things you can do to improve your sleep hygiene. Exercise early in the day. Daily exercise serves to improve your mood and also helps you ...

image:gratisography.com When clients come in to my Houston office complaining of feeling depressed or anxious, one of the first questions I ask them is about how they are sleeping. Inevitably, they are having trouble falling asleep, or staying asleep. I think we have all had the experience of lying in bed, feeling more anxious every time we look at the clock, wishing we could just fall asleep. But, we can't. Ugh. Sleep deprivation takes it toll one hard night at at time. Besides feeling moody and tired, getting less than 6 hours of sleep at night for prolonged periods of time can lead to a suppressed immune system, increased blood pressure, stroke, diabetes, heart disease, and can even increase levels of the hunger hormones (ghrelin) which can lead you to feel hungrier. Scary, right? This is the kind of news that could keep you up at night. So, how can you conquer sleep?  Actually, there are many things you can do to get to sleep faster. We will be covering one of...