Sleep Disturbance

Sleep is a fundamental part of life, with a quality night’s sleep crucial for optimal performance during the day. Getting enough sleep helps to maintain concentration, memory, physical health and mood.

Occasional poor sleep is normal and warrants no concern. However, when problems are persistent, they can start to cause both psychological and physical harm.

It is also true that psychological ease and wellbeing are important factors for enabling good sleep.

Sleep disturbances encompass a range of problematic sleep behaviours, such as difficulties in falling asleep, staying asleep and feeling excessively tired throughout the day.

Problems falling asleep can be associated with factors such as a crisis in one’s life, poor sleep habits, or one’s work or life schedule. Problems with staying asleep can be due to problematic behaviours throughout the night, with the most common being snoring, restless leg syndrome (the irresistible urge to move the legs) and sleep apnoea (the temporary cessation of breathing during sleep). Parasomnias such as night terrors, nightmares and sleep walking can also disrupt a restful night. Excessive daytime sleepiness is most likely a reflection of poor sleep, but can also be caused by more persistent disorders such as narcolepsy.

These disturbances can be a result of both psychological and physical concerns, and can diminish the quality of one’s rest and wellbeing. Whether a cause or a symptom, the role of psychology in sleep disturbance is very central to its understanding and treatment.

At Nexus Psychology, our experienced psychologists can help you to identify the underlying causes of problematic sleep, learn coping strategies, and develop healthy sleep habits to re-discover quality sleep and improve your daily functioning, mood and performance.