"Sleep Smarter: How to Improve Your Rest—and What You Risk Without It"

By: Kanan Levy

Between balancing work, time with friends and family, taking care of ourselves and taking care of others it is hard to feel like there is enough time in the day to check all our boxes. Because of this, we often eat into the night. Maybe we stay up to decompress and watch our favorite show, maybe it's the only time we have to pack a lunch or grab dinner with a friend. Whatever reason it may be, it is an inevitable fact that we spend the time we should be sleeping doing anything but sleeping.

Now this blog post is not to guilt you, to make you worry, or even to encourage you to sleep more. This is meant to highlight the facts tied to better sleep, a healthier lifestyle because of said sleep, and showing you what a lack of sleep has the power to do to a healthy mind and body.

Consistency is Key

People often ask, what is the best way to make sure we are getting good sleep? How can I have more energy when I wake up in the morning? Why is it that even when I go to sleep early, I still feel groggy the next day? The answer to this common, widespread question is consistency! Research shows that by going to sleep and waking up at the same time every single day, we are able to sleep better and have more energy. Why is this? Because our body is on a consistent schedule! 

Neuroscience Crash Course

There is a little clock in the brain called the SCN that controls our circadian rhythm, the thing that makes us tired at night and awake during the day. The SCN can be thought of as the body's master clock, controlling and working with other tissue and muscles in the body to ensure we function in a smooth, consistent manner. So by maintaining a consistent sleep schedule, we are helping our SCN, along with other bodily functions, stay on track. The SCN and our circadian rhythm work with adenosine, a compound in the brain that is often described as sleep pressure. This pressure builds up more and more throughout the day, causing us to get tired the later it is. There is a way, however, this can be interrupted, and that is by messing with our sleep pressure, or adenosine. 

Napping is Bad! (Sometimes)

It's been a long day. You woke up early, exercised, went to work, you ate dinner, but there are still a couple more things you need to get done before bed. It’s only 6pm. If you take a short nap, you can wake up and be more alert and therefore productive when checking off your final boxes. You will still get to bed at a decent time. Wrong! Napping in the evening disrupts your sleep at night. Why is this? Remember adenosine; that little compound in the brain that is synonymous with sleep pressure? You lose it when you fall asleep. If you wake up from your nap at 7pm, you will have already lost a significant amount of sleep pressure, making it more difficult for you to go to sleep after those tasks you had to get done. This disrupts your sleep schedule and circadian rhythm. Sleep is no longer consistent! And you lose the stages you need to function well the next day, and the days that follow that.

The Links Between Sleep and Depression

Now that I have given you a couple tips on how to have and maintain better sleep, let me tell you a well researched correlation between lack of sleep and a disorder that impacts over 21 million adults in the United States of America: depression. If you are going to therapy, or interested in going, there is a likely chance you are a victim to this very mental health disorder. While no matter what it is taxing and difficult to cope with, one natural possible solution to what you are experiencing may be simple. It may be sleeping! Here are some of the ways sleep and depression feed off one another.

Research is showing that many patients experience ongoing emotional distress and serious sleep disturbances long after they leave critical care. It's not just about being tired—nightmares, restless sleep, and stressful memories are all common and often tied to anxiety and depression. Studies have found that poor sleep quality is a strong predictor of long-term emotional struggles. One study by McKinley et al. found that people who experienced stress early after hospital discharge were more likely to show symptoms of depression months later. Another study by Choi et al. observed that emotional vulnerability in the weeks and months after ICU stay often comes with increased anxiety and trouble sleeping, making recovery even harder. It’s also important to recognize that sleep disruptions are not just a side effect—they can signal deeper issues. Research by Davydow et al. found that sleep-related problems like nightmares and intrusive memories are often early warning signs of post-discharge depression.

How Can You Recover?

What does this mean for patients and caregivers? Recovery support should go beyond physical health. Emotional health, especially sleep quality and mental well-being, deserves equal attention. Monitoring sleep patterns and emotional symptoms can help catch issues early and offer patients a better chance at a full, balanced recovery. In short, if you're recovering from a critical illness or supporting someone who is, don't underestimate the power of sleep and emotional care.

References

Choi, J., Tate, J. A., Rogers, M. A., Donahoe, M. P., & Hoffman, L. A. (2016). Depressive symptoms and anxiety in intensive care unit (ICU) survivors after ICU discharge. Heart & Lung, 45(2), 140–146.

Davydow, D. S., Gifford, J. M., Desai, S. V., Bienvenu, O. J., & Needham, D. M. (2009). Depression in general intensive care unit survivors: A systematic review. Intensive Care Medicine, 35, 796–809.

McKinley, S., Aitken, L. M., Alison, J. A., King, M., Leslie, G., Burmeister, E., & Elliott, D. (2012). Sleep and other factors associated with mental health and psychological distress after intensive care for critical illness. Intensive Care Medicine, 38, 627–633.