Practical tips to build resilience – Sleep and Mental Health
The Effect of Sleep and Mental Health
Sleep is another aspect of resilience which is absolutely critical. I would say this is the factor that is most overlooked in our ‘always wired’, ‘always on’, technological society. Sleep is not a luxury and yet people often chuckle when they hear that. They know it is true, yet they still are habitually depriving themselves of much needed sleep.
Sleep is absolutely critical to our emotional, psychological and physical health. The quality and quantity of sleep we get has a big impact on our well-being and the shortage of high quality sleep is proven to be linked to chronic illness. We know that the amount and quality of sleep is directly related to cancer, diabetes, heart disease and a number of conditions including obesity.
We know that getting less than six hours of sleep is a factor in causing weight gain. You are better able to manage your weight if you get enough sleep, which for the average adult is somewhere between 7 and 9 hours of sleep a night. So, getting enough sleep and making sure it is high quality sleep, is a huge factor in building resistance. Sleep is the body’s most natural way to repair and recharge itself.
The Effect of a Balanced Life
Another important aspect of resilience is life balance. Making sure that you have a wide range of sources of experiences that provide you with opportunities for success. Being involved with community, contributing to something larger than yourself, volunteerism, community involvement, giving back, things like that which lead to meaningful relationships are vitally important to building resilience.
Relationships are an important part of your life. Opening up to opportunities to get involved with projects which help you feel fulfilled and involve other people can lead to success in areas you have not previously experienced. We know that one of the most important predictors of positive mental health is the number and quality of relationships. So if you have a significant other, a partner or spouse, making sure that person is a high priority in your life by taking care of and nurturing that relationship is an important aspect of your life and a key element to finding balance in your world.
Making sure that what you are doing at work is meaningful will also contribute to a feeling of fulfillment, that you are deriving some kind of satisfaction other than the paycheck from the work that you are doing. If you are not finding a way to do that in your current role then it may be time to find work that does.
