A poor night’s sleep affects us all occasionally, and therapists are not immune. We, too, experience sleepless nights when stress keeps us tossing and turning. We’re also just as vulnerable to the effects of the habits that lead to poor sleep.

Admittedly, therapists have an advantage in fighting sleep problems because we know a little more about how sleep works. Good sleep depends on your routines and habits — known as sleep hygiene — your physical needs, your mental functioning, and sometimes, medical intervention. Let’s look at each of these four pillars of good sleep more deeply and learn more about what therapists try when sleep eludes us.

Sleep Hygiene

Good sleep habits, or sleep hygiene, are among the most important changes you can make if you aren’t getting enough shut eye. There are many different ways you could create good sleep habits, depending on what works best for you. Commonly, the following are good ways to start.

Physical Needs

In addition to creating good habits around sleep, there are physical things we can all do, as well as avoid, in order for our bodies to rest well. While this list of needs may seem overwhelming, start implementing one or two at a time, and over a few weeks begin to layer in more so that they’ll become habit.

Here are six habits to try to improve your sleep:

Mental Needs

Sometimes, even for therapists, our thoughts are our biggest barrier to sleep. Maybe it’s a client dealing with significant challenges or just the to-do list — but therapists have a lot on their minds that can keep them from slumber. We all know the feeling though, you feel exhausted, but as soon as you lie down, your busy thoughts ramp up. Before you know it, you worry about being awake, further activating those distracting thoughts. Before you know it, you’re in a loop. Sleep seems impossible. There are a few ways to help settle your mind. You might try relaxation strategies, evaluate your stress management skills, or try working with a therapist.

Relaxation strategies

Various relaxation strategies help you override the brain’s mental activity. Practice several different techniques to find a combination that works for you. Guided meditation and white noise tracks, that can often help with relaxing before bed, are readily available online or via apps.Progressive muscle relaxationmight also work for you.

Stress management

Work with a therapist

Medical Interventions

Sometimes medical interventions are necessary, especially if physical conditions disrupt your sleep. If you haven’t found success with other strategies, like the ones mentioned above, the next best step is checking with your doctor to see if there’s something else going on.

A doctor can help you both identify medical conditions that may cause your sleep issues and prescribe medication if necessary. Conditions such as sleep apnea, thyroid problems, restless leg syndrome, or painful conditions such as arthritis can all disrupt sleep. Getting proper medical care is essential in these cases.Some mental health conditions such aspost-traumatic stress disorderordepressionmay also affect sleep. Sleep disorders such as narcolepsy or sleepwalking can disrupt nighttime patterns. Medication can address underlying problems or temporarily improve sleep while working to regulate other conditions.

Our goal at Talkspace is to provide the most up-to-date, valuable, and objective information on mental health-related topics in order to help readers make informed decisions.

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