Author: dawsoncharles

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Key Terms:

• Sleep Hygiene – Habits and environment that promote restful sleep.
• Circadian Rhythm – The body’s internal clock regulating sleep-wake cycles.
• Melatonin – A hormone that helps control sleep.
• Blue Light – Artificial light from screens that can disrupt sleep.

Why Sleep Hygiene Matters:

Poor sleep affects physical and mental health. Small, consistent changes can improve sleep quality.

Good sleep hygiene is essential for maintaining a healthy sleep-wake cycle and overall well-being.

Our circadian rhythm, or internal body clock, regulates when we feel alert or tired throughout the day, and it is influenced by external factors like light exposure and daily routines.

The hormone melatonin plays a key role in this process, as it signals the body to prepare for sleep when it gets dark.

However, exposure to blue light from screens before bedtime can suppress melatonin production, making it harder to fall asleep.

Practicing proper sleep hygiene, such as maintaining a consistent sleep schedule, limiting screen time before bed, and creating a relaxing sleep environment, can help regulate the circadian rhythm and improve sleep quality.

By making these small but impactful changes, individuals can experience better rest, increased focus, and improved overall health.

Effective Sleep Hygiene Strategies:

1. Stick to a Schedule – Sleep and wake up at the same time daily.
2. Create a Relaxing Routine – Read, stretch, or meditate before bed.
3. Optimize Your Sleep Space – Keep it dark, cool (18–20°C), and quiet.
4. Reduce Screen Time – Avoid screens 60 minutes before bed.
5. Watch Diet & Caffeine – Avoid heavy meals, caffeine, and alcohol before sleep.
6. Get Natural Light – Daylight exposure supports melatonin production.

Learning Activity: Sleep Hygiene Tracker

For one week, track your sleep habits using the checklist below. Reflect on patterns and make changes to improve sleep quality.

✅ Went to bed and woke up at the same time?
✅ No screens 60 minutes before bed?
✅ Created a relaxing bedtime routine?
✅ Avoided caffeine and heavy meals before sleep?
✅ Kept the bedroom dark, cool, and quiet?

At the end of the week, write a short reflection on which habits were easiest to implement, which were challenging, and how your sleep quality changed.

Learn More:

• CDC – Sleep Hygiene
• Harvard – Blue Light & Sleep

Implement these habits to improve sleep and well-being.

References

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (n.d.). Sleep hygiene tips. Retrieved from https://www.cdc.gov/sleep/about_sleep/sleep_hygiene.html

Harvard Health Publishing. (2019). Blue light has a dark side. Retrieved from https://www.health.harvard.edu/staying-healthy/blue-light-has-a-dark-side

Irish, L. A., Kline, C. E., Gunn, H. E., Buysse, D. J., & Hall, M. H. (2015). The role of sleep hygiene in promoting public health: A review of empirical evidence. Sleep Medicine Reviews, 22, 23-36. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.smrv.2014.10.001

Key Terms:

• Sleep Quality: This is how well you sleep, focusing on how deep and uninterrupted your sleep is.
• Mental Health: A person’s emotional, psychological, and social well-being, affecting how they think, feel, and act.
• Mood Disorders: Mental health issues like anxiety and depression that can affect how we feel emotionally.

Associated Learning Outcome: By the end of this section, you will be able to:

• Understand how sleep affects mental health.
• Recognize the importance of good sleep quality for mental well-being.

Sleep and Mental Health:

We all know that sleep impacts our mental health, but do we really get how deeply they’re connected? Poor sleep can lead to stress, mood swings, and even things like anxiety or depression (Milojevich & Lukowski, 2016). On the flip side, getting enough good-quality sleep can help lift your mood and make it easier to handle stress. Think about how you feel after a rough night—irritable or maybe a little down. That’s not just in your head; it’s your sleep affecting how you feel mentally.

It’s not just about feeling better after a good night’s sleep; there’s some real science behind it. Sleep helps regulate your emotions, which is why being sleep-deprived can make you feel more stressed or anxious (Psychology Ontario, 2024). Ever notice how everything seems a little harder to handle after a bad night’s sleep? That’s because sleep is also key to cognitive functions like memory, decision-making, and problem-solving. When you don’t sleep well, those brain functions don’t work as smoothly. Think about a time when you were tired and couldn’t concentrate—sleep really does affect how sharp we feel mentally.

The connection between sleep and mental health isn’t just about feeling tired; it’s about how our brains use sleep to stay in balance. If we miss out on sleep too often, it can mess with how we manage our emotions, make decisions, and even remember important things. So, when was the last time you woke up feeling refreshed and on top of things? And when was the last time you were grumpy or distracted because you didn’t sleep well?

If you want to dig into how sleep is affecting your own mental health, try taking a couple of quizzes to get an idea of where you stand:

• Read: Dive into the following articles to learn more about how sleep and mental health are connected:
  • Understanding the Link Between Sleep and Mental Health
  • Sleep and Mental Health (Psychology Today)
  • Sleep and Mental Health (Mental Health Foundation)
  • Mental Illness Associated with Poor Sleep Quality (CAMH)
• Quiz: After reading, check out one of these sleep quizzes to see how well you’re sleeping and how it might be impacting your mental health:
  • Psych Central Sleep Quiz
  • Healthline Sleep Quiz
  • Johns Hopkins Sleep Quiz

Reflect and Apply:

• Take a moment to think about your own sleep habits. Do you get enough sleep each night? How do you feel during the day – energized or sluggish?
• Based on the quiz results, think about how you could improve your sleep habits for better mental health.

References

Milojevich, H. M., & Lukowski, A. F. (2016). Sleep and mental health in undergraduate students with generally healthy sleep habits. PloS One, 11(6), e0156372. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0156372

Psychology Ontario. (2024, June 20). Understanding the link between sleep and mental health. https://www.psych.on.ca/Public/Blog/2024/Understanding-the-Link-Between-Sleep-and-Mental-He

Associated Learning Outcome: Students can identify and define the different stages of a REM cycle and how the REM cycle affects the mental and physical health of the student.

Pre-assessment: This is a pre-assessment to be completed before the activities. This is to see what you already know about the stages of sleep. Answers shouldn’t be more than a couple of sentences.

1. Have you ever heard of a REM cycle while you sleep?

2. If yes to the first question, what was your initial impression of what REM cycles are and how they impact your quality of sleep? If no, what do you think REM cycles are?

3. How many stages of sleep do you think there are, and in what period of your sleep do you think is the deepest?

Sub-topic: What is a REM cycle? In this section you are introduced to REM cycles in sleep. When you are asleep, your body and mind cycle through several stages that starts from being awake, to being what is considered “fully” asleep, having reached your REM cycle. The main idea to get from REM sleep is that this aspect of your sleep considers the quality of your sleep versus what most people view as important which is the quantity of your sleep. This section will give you a glimpse into what REM sleep is, and how you can measure it in your own day to day life.

Key Words/Introduction:

NREM cycle: non-rapid eye movement sleep –> this phase is important to know in accordance to REM because this cycle leads up to REM –> there are four stages

1. Awake/Light Sleep
2. Deeper Sleep
3. Deep Sleep (still NREM)
4. Then comes REM sleep (see below now)

REM cycle: rapid eye movement sleep –> where your brain is active but your body is temporarily paralyzed –> known as the state where dreams happen –> this stage occurs approximately 90 minutes after the sleep state (Patel et al., 2024) –> as the night goes on, these REM cycles of sleep get longer and longer –> this end stage of your sleep makes up 60-70% of your total REM sleep (Walker, Ted Series, 2020)

1. Learning Activities: First, think about how much you have slept in the past week. Write it down on this chart and answer the personal reflective questions to gather how the amounts of sleep you got made you feel.

2. Jigsaw Group Activity → In your group, read the selected article below on REM sleep.

https://www.jstor.org/stable/26060531

Then watch this video.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=nwNOMYL8mIc%3Fsi%3D55jjhebr0T_wswEY

Now write a transcript of your discussion and what you aim to present to the class for submission. This can be a word or google document simply listing out the ideas that your group discussed from the video and article.

As a group, create a slideshow on powerpoint or google slides and transport the key information from the video and the article into a teachable lesson to the rest of the learners. The powerpoint should only be about 5-6 slides, with one key idea on each slide, including an introduction to the sleep cycles.

Assessment:

Short Answer Evaluation: Please answer the questions below with 2-5 sentences and submit your answers to this site through a blog post.

1. Based on your tracking of your sleep and the information provided in this section, do you think you reach a consistent quality of REM sleep every single night?

2. After learning what you know about REM sleep, think back on when you’ve awoken after a dream, was it ever harder to get out of bed as opposed to when you weren’t dreaming? Think about the fact that REM is the deepest cycle of sleep.

Discussion: An “online forum,” in this case just post a blog to this site and recall your experience with the activity, as well as how well you feel it incorporated into your own life. Detail future implications for your sleep patterns as well. Please respond to at least one or two other learners on this site and provide thoughtful feedback.

References

Patel, A. K., Reddy, V., Shumway, K. R., & Araujo, J. F. (2024). Physiology, sleep stages. StatPearls. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK526132/.  

Video: A walk through the stages of sleep | Sleeping with Science, a TED series

• Rem Cycles

• Impact of Sleep on Mental Health

• The Effects of Technology on Sleep

• Improving Sleep Hygiene