Sleep is not a cure for anxiety, but it can play an important role in how well we cope with everyday stress.
Have you ever noticed how different you feel after a good night’s sleep? Does the following day feel a little more manageable?
Young people generally need more sleep than many people realise, often around 8–10 hours a night, while adults usually need around 7–9 hours. Yet many young people and adults are regularly getting far less than this.
When we are tired, everyday tasks can often feel more challenging and more time-consuming. Something as simple as reading a document may take longer than usual. You may find yourself re-reading the same paragraph several times before the information begins to make sense.
We may also notice ourselves reacting differently to everyday situations. Perhaps feeling frustrated sitting in traffic, waiting longer than expected in a supermarket queue, or facing the dreaded re-scan of an entire shopping basket.
When we are exhausted, our patience can feel thinner, our stress levels may rise more quickly and emotional regulation can feel harder. Small frustrations can suddenly feel much bigger than they normally would.
Anxiety can also feel louder. You may notice racing thoughts, feeling overwhelmed more easily or becoming more aware of external noise and distractions that you would normally filter out.
Now imagine this for a young person trying to manage a full day at school or college.
Their day may involve long periods of concentration, heavy workloads, social pressures, friendship difficulties, concerns about appearance or worries about fitting in. When they are already running on very little sleep, managing these pressures can feel even harder and far more exhausting.
I hear this regularly from young people I work with and, if I am honest, it is something I recognise in myself too. After a poor night’s sleep, I often notice that everyday stress feels harder to manage and my own anxiety can feel louder the following day.
Social media is often blamed for poor sleep, but I think the reality is usually much more complex than simply saying “phones are bad”.
For many people, social media can offer connection, distraction, comfort and familiarity. After stressful or mentally draining days, it can feel soothing to scroll through familiar content, watch videos or message friends. In some ways, it can almost become a comfort blanket.
There is also the instant gratification that comes with social media and online content. There is always another video, another notification, another message or another episode waiting for us. We do not have to wait.
For young people especially, this can make it incredibly difficult to settle at night. But if we are honest, many adults recognise similar patterns in themselves too. Whether it is scrolling through news headlines, replying to work emails, online shopping or watching “just one more episode”, many of us struggle to fully disconnect.
Sometimes it is not really about the phone itself. It may be more about what the phone helps us avoid, delay or soothe.
For some people, scrolling can become a way of temporarily escaping difficult thoughts, worries or emotions. If the day has felt stressful, overwhelming or lonely, reaching for something familiar and comforting can make a lot of sense.
The difficulty is that what feels soothing in the short term can sometimes leave us feeling more exhausted and mentally depleted the following day.
At the same time, I think it is important to acknowledge that social media and online spaces can also have a significant impact on mental health, particularly for young people. Constant comparison, pressure to always be available, exposure to distressing content or unrealistic expectations around appearance and lifestyle can all become overwhelming.
Perhaps part of the challenge is finding balance — recognising both the comfort and connection social media can provide, while also remaining aware of the impact it may be having on sleep, stress levels and emotional wellbeing.
Night-time can also be when distractions stop and thoughts become louder.
Many of us carry stress throughout the day and then expect our minds to slow down the moment our heads hit the pillow. Thoughts about work, finances, school pressures, relationships, parenting or uncertainty about the future can suddenly feel much harder to ignore when everything becomes quiet.
We cannot resolve world problems, relationship difficulties or tomorrow’s to-do list at midnight, yet our minds often try to do exactly that.
For parents, this can feel particularly difficult to navigate. It may be tempting to focus purely on removing devices, but sometimes it can be helpful to think about what social media may be providing for a young person in that moment. It may be distraction, comfort, connection or a way of avoiding difficult feelings for a little while longer.
That does not mean boundaries are unhelpful. Perhaps the conversation sometimes needs to move beyond simply “put the phone away” and towards understanding what may be making it so difficult to properly rest in the first place.
I think balance is important here.
The goal may not be to completely eliminate social media or expect perfect sleep routines every night. Life is busy, stressful and demanding at times. Most of us will experience periods where sleep becomes more disrupted.
But becoming more aware of our patterns, understanding what may be contributing to poor sleep and making small, realistic changes where possible can make a real difference to how we feel emotionally.
Poor sleep will not cause all anxiety, and better sleep will not solve everything overnight. However, understanding the relationship between sleep, stress and emotional wellbeing can be an important starting point.
In a world that rarely slows down, perhaps many of us are still trying to work out how to properly rest.
