One symptom of depression is a sleep disorder. The vast majority of people with depression have problems sleeping, and a good night’s sleep can be a luxury for people with severe or moderate depression. Poor sleep or inability to sleep will affect the daytime activities of patients, and frustration during the day will aggravate the condition of depressed patients, if not timely adjustment and intervention, will form a sleep disorder aggravate the cycle of depression, so adjusting sleep is very important for depressed patients, the following are some ways to help depressed patients adjust their sleep.
A. Adjusting the psychological and emotional state of the self.
When depressed people suffer from insomnia, they may be anxiously thinking about certain things in their minds and their thoughts may be confused.
1. The list method. You can write down the things you are worried about or troubled about on a piece of paper and then list the general steps to solve each one in order. When you have finished, tell yourself that you have a solution to the thing you are worried about and that you don’t need to worry about it anymore.
2. Deep breathing and meditation. Sit on your bed, close your eyes and breathe in soothingly a few times. After you get used to it, begin to imagine in your brain that you are inhaling the purest breath and on the exhale imagine that each time you exhale a portion of the depressing breath you have accumulated today that you don’t like.
Secondly, actively and courageously seek help.
Try seeking help in dealing with depression. It may not be as bad as you think, and they may not understand your pain, but that doesn’t mean they will refuse your request for help.
1. Ask your doctor for help. For insomnia, the fastest way to solve the problem is to use sleeping pills, but sleeping pills have various side effects, so it is important to talk to your doctor about whether to use them, and the dosage and type of pills to use. Take your doctor’s advice on how to take sleeping pills.
2. Find a listener. Talk to someone you are close to or a counsellor about your current psychological situation and tell them your worries and concerns one by one.
Create a sleep-friendly environment.
We all know the influence of the environment on people, and the environment also has an important influence on people’s sleep. A good sleep-friendly environment will undoubtedly reduce the probability of insomnia for people with depression.
1. Put down your electronic products before going to bed. Try to stay away from mobile phones and computers before bedtime. Don’t catch up on dramas and movies before bedtime, when curiosity and the idea of exploration rise, you will have no desire to sleep.
2. Create a good sleeping environment. Soak your feet in hot water before going to bed, rest in a clean and comfortable bed, keep the room quiet, and try to keep the light in the room to a minimum by turning off the lights and drawing the curtains. The light will make your mind active by stimulating your vision, which is not conducive to sleep.
Fourth, develop good habits.
Good habits help the stability of the body’s biological clock. Depressed people facing serious sleep problems can try to make their routine more closely resemble healthy sleep habits, instead of letting it form a vicious circle of insomnia.
1. Good bedtime habits. Don’t allow your body to “ingest” substances that keep you up and awake before bedtime, such as caffeinated carbonated drinks, coffee, chocolate, tea, etc. Smoking and drinking alcohol are even more important. Smoking and alcohol should be avoided, as drinking alcohol to help you sleep will only create dependency and will become more and more harmful.
2. Let your body become really tired. When sleep problems arise, it is worth making a great effort (the process is difficult) to make the body tired by running, and making the body tired will improve the sleep situation.
For depressed people with insomnia problems it is worth trying the above methods and sticking with them for a while to see if the sleep results improve.
