What Can a Sleep Study Tell You About Your Mental Health?

Table of ContentsView AllTable of ContentsWhat You’ll Learn From a Sleep StudyThe Relationship Between Sleep and Mental HealthCo-Occurring DisordersHow to Improve Your Sleep HabitsNext in Mind Over Mattress GuideHow Does a Lack of Sleep Affect Your Mental Health?

Table of ContentsView All

View All

Table of Contents

What You’ll Learn From a Sleep Study

The Relationship Between Sleep and Mental Health

Co-Occurring Disorders

How to Improve Your Sleep Habits

Next in Mind Over Mattress Guide

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The way we sleep speaks volumes about our well-being. Not being able to fall asleep, sleeping too much, or waking up multiple times throughout the night can impact your mental health or could be a sign of a mental health issue.

“The brain recharges and does a fair amount of emotional and memory processing at night,” says Alex Dimitriu, MD, founder of Menlo Park Psychiatry & Sleep Medicine, who considers sleep to be a vital sign, along with blood pressure, heart rate, and respiration.

We all need sleep; it’s essential. But what can your sleep habits tell you about your mental health? A lot, actually.

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If you’re having trouble sleeping, your doctor may recommend a polysomnography test, also called an overnight sleep study. This is often conducted in a lab or medical office. A technician will monitor your breathing, brain waves, and movements while you sleep.

Results of the study, which a sleep doctor analyzes, will reveal if you haveinsomnia,narcolepsy, restless legs syndrome,sleep apnea, or another sleep disorder. The test can give you insight into many different things, including:

Even if you don’t have a sleep disorder but are experiencing poor quality sleep consistently, you should consider visiting a psychiatrist or a mental health professional to discuss your results and how they may berelated to your mental health.

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We’ve all had a bad night of sleep. It can impact your mood, energy levels, and behaviors, affecting your relationships, job performance, and other aspects of your life. If this happens, night after night, it will severely impact your mental health.

According to Dr. Dimitriu, poor sleep on a consistent basis can lead to a variety of conditions, including anxiety, depression, ADHD, worsening memory, substance misuse, food overuse, or poor impulse control.

“Any disturbance in sleep, like trouble falling or staying asleep, or waking up often in the night, is worth investigating if it’s been going on for more than a week or two,” says Dr. Dimitriu. Also, any symptoms that are significantly debilitating during the day, such as sleepiness, fatigue, lack of motivation, should be explored.

“We consider sleep to be an essential marker for mental health, like a canary in a coal mine,” says Dr. Dimitriu. “One issue in psychiatry is that many symptoms are subjective. Sleep, on the other hand, is objective.”

Psychiatric disorders commonly cause sleep-related problems, which is why the results of a sleep study could help figure out what symptoms you’re experiencing and why you’re experiencing them.

“Psych issues can cause poor sleep, and psych issues can result in poor sleep. So the relationship is circular, like a yin-yang, which is why the practice of sleep and psychiatry is so essential together,” Dr. Dimitriu explains.

The most common sleep disorders include:

Insomnia is very closely tied to anxiety, depression, bipolar disorder, and other mental health disorders. For example, for patients with depression,insomnia is one of the most common symptoms.

Among individuals diagnosed withschizophrenia, the majority experience poor sleep quality. Disturbed sleep, alongside other symptoms, can also be a predictive factor in determining who will develop psychosis.

The same pathophysiological mechanisms that cause insomnia or hypersomnia can also cause psychiatric disorders, which may explain why the comorbidity of sleep disorders and psychiatric disorders are so common.

If you’re having trouble sleeping on a consistent, ongoing basis, it’s important to speak to amental health professional. While this sleep change could result from a lifestyle change, such as becoming a parent, moving to a new neighborhood, or undergoing a stressful month of work, it is likely connected to your mental health. Even a lifestyle change may require mental health support, which will, in turn, improve your sleep.

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You may be struggling with sleep, but what is the underlying cause? A sleep study won’t necessarily give you this answer, but it will offer you more insight into the quality of sleep you’re getting and help you understand what exactly is happening to your body while you sleep.

If you’re experiencing poor mental health, it will impact your sleep, which is why sleep issues are often the first sign of a mental health problem. In order to improve your sleep, you’ll want to practice healthy sleep habits. These include:

Certain practices like putting your phone in a different room or journaling before bed could help, but if you’re battling an undiagnosed mental health disorder then these changes won’t treat the underlying problem. This is why it’s important to speak with a mental health professional if you’re experiencing ongoing sleep issues.

If you’re simply stressed, regular therapy sessions could help you develop better sleeping strategies, which will help to improve your mental health. However, if you’re dealing with a more severe mental health disorder, you will need to speak with a mental health professional about a proper treatment plan, which should help to address your quality of sleep.

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Bottom Line

These situations can happen to any of us, but if the problem persists, then you’ll need to speak with your doctor or therapist about it. A sleep study is a good first step to diagnosing the sleep-related problem, but in order to treat the underlying cause, you’ll want to seek mental health care.

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3 SourcesVerywell Mind uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.Benca RM.Sleep in psychiatric disorders.Neurol Clin. 1996;14(4):739-764.Khurshid KA.Comorbid insomnia and psychiatric disorders.Innov Clin Neurosci. 2018;15(3-4):28-32.Kaskie RE, Graziano B, Ferrarelli F.Schizophrenia and sleep disorders: links, risks, and management challenges.Nat Sci Sleep. 2017;9:227-239.

3 Sources

Verywell Mind uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.Benca RM.Sleep in psychiatric disorders.Neurol Clin. 1996;14(4):739-764.Khurshid KA.Comorbid insomnia and psychiatric disorders.Innov Clin Neurosci. 2018;15(3-4):28-32.Kaskie RE, Graziano B, Ferrarelli F.Schizophrenia and sleep disorders: links, risks, and management challenges.Nat Sci Sleep. 2017;9:227-239.

Verywell Mind uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.

Benca RM.Sleep in psychiatric disorders.Neurol Clin. 1996;14(4):739-764.Khurshid KA.Comorbid insomnia and psychiatric disorders.Innov Clin Neurosci. 2018;15(3-4):28-32.Kaskie RE, Graziano B, Ferrarelli F.Schizophrenia and sleep disorders: links, risks, and management challenges.Nat Sci Sleep. 2017;9:227-239.

Benca RM.Sleep in psychiatric disorders.Neurol Clin. 1996;14(4):739-764.

Khurshid KA.Comorbid insomnia and psychiatric disorders.Innov Clin Neurosci. 2018;15(3-4):28-32.

Kaskie RE, Graziano B, Ferrarelli F.Schizophrenia and sleep disorders: links, risks, and management challenges.Nat Sci Sleep. 2017;9:227-239.

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