How being honest with ourselves and others helps you sleep better

Depression and Anxiety have a strong association with sleep disorders such as insomnia.

Sleep issues can influence the function of the neurotransmitter serotonin, contributing to the development of depression. Depression disrupts our sleep architecture decreasing slow wave sleep and disrupting our emotional restorative sleep, REM.

​An excess of worry and fear lead to an increased time to fall asleep and disrupt sleep throughout the night, leading to a higher sleep reactivity, i.e. sleep problems, when we face stressful life events!

​The relationship between insomnia and mental health is therefore bidirectional, meaning one can worsen the other and vice versa.

How lack of honesty can impact sleep

• Lack of honesty can create stress and anxiety which can lead to a cycle of stress as you worry about being caught and the need to continue a fiction.

• Lack of honesty can induce guilt and shame which can make you feel like you have a lower moral standing, leading to negative self-feelings that can cause distress and prevent relaxation. 

• Lack of honesty can cause thoughts to 'play on your mind' replaying actions and interactions, which keeps the mind from shutting down for sleep. 

• Lack of honesty can leads to a 'downward spiral' resulting in long-term anxiety, leading to physical symptoms such as insomnia, headaches, and a weakened immune system.

  
  

Have you tried repeatedly to hold back your feelings towards others?

Suppressing your feelings can cause you to wake up during the night which affects your restorative sleep and therefore your mental and physical health.

While it can feel beneficial to withhold your feelings towards others and avoid conflict, the stress and anxious thoughts both make it harder to fall sleep and stay asleep.

Finding the courage to be honest with ourselves and others on unresolved issues rather than avoiding them can help to improve our sleep quality.

Helping to clear our conscious lowers our stress levels which are a major problem in achieving restorative good quality sleep.

Sleep Better

Reduce the Mental Clutter: Our brains control our sleep, the constant mental effort in avoiding the resolution to difficult problems will keep our brains in a heightened state of arousal and not one of rest and relaxation.

Honest self-reflection: Being honest with yourself about your emotions and thoughts can help resolve underlying issues that contribute to insomnia and help you sleep better.

Read more about insomnia