Finding Restorative Sleep (Originally published in Southside Neighbors Magazine)
Originally published in Anchorage Southside Neighbors Magazine, January 2025
Disclaimer: This information is provided as general knowledge and may be used for wide ranging self-improvement purposes. Consult with your healthcare providers regarding your unique health questions.
Adults and Sleep: What's Going On
Consistently waking up rested and recharged is a desirable experience yet nearly one third of adults in the United States do not get enough sleep (Palmer et al., 2024).
Good sleep translates to adaptively handling emotion-provoking situations, promoting physical and mental health, and healthy cognitive performance (Palmer et al.).
Most adults already know the culpable habits that worsen sleep quality (e.g., using a phone, tablet, or TV one hour prior to bed, poor stress management, high caffeine intake during the day).
Connection Between Sleep and Mental Health
Here are a few habits that may promote better sleep quality:
1. Reflect and identify 5 moments you felt gratitude during the day and write them into a notebook before going to bed.
2. Rely on one alarm in the morning rather than four, twelve, or any number of alarms greater than one.
3. Engage in low-light calming activities before bed; this may look like stretching while listening to peaceful music, reading, or folding laundry (use as much light as you need to be safe!).
4. Change the sheets on your bed at least once a week (bonus: add a drop of lavender oil on your pillow).
Sleep Therapist in Anchorage, Fairbanks, Juneau
About the Author:
Nicole Zegiestowsky (she/her) is a pre-licensed therapist at Stellar Insight Counseling with a master’s in clinical psychology from the University of Alaska, Anchorage. In her free time Nicole enjoys getting outside, ice skating, reading, or brainstorming next year’s garden.
Read more about sleep and well-being from Nicole on the Stellar Insight Counseling Mental Health Blog.
Online Sleep Therapy Treatment (Alaska)
Palmer, C. A., Bower, J. L., Cho, K. W., Clementi, M. A., Lau, S., Oosterhoff, B., & Alfano, C. A. (2024). Sleep loss and emotion: A systematic review and meta-analysis of over 50 years of experimental research. Psychological Bulletin, 150(4), 440–463. https://doi.org/10.1037/bul0000410