Mental health and the quality of sleep have a much closer relationship than we may think — poor sleep can have a very negative impact on your mental health and living with a mental health issue can affect the quality of your sleep. If you have poor sleep, you may experience difficulty in falling asleep, staying asleep, or waking up. You may have panic attacks, flashbacks, or nightmares that disturb your sleep. You also may experience fatigue or sleepiness throughout the day. If you are experiencing these symptoms, you may also experience feelings of anxiousness, depression, loneliness or isolation, and/or irritability. You may also struggle to concentrate or make decisions, and your mental health may be negatively impacted. If you are struggling with your mental health, you may feel more anxiety or depression, which in turn, affects the quality of your sleep. The quality of your sleep helps to maintain cognitive skills, for example learning and memory. Poor sleep can make it much more difficult to cope with daily life stressors, which is why there is such importance on the quality of sleep. If you find that you are experiencing some of these symptoms of poor sleep, there are ways to help. Establishing a routine and relaxing before you try to sleep, such as getting into bed and journaling at 9pm every night, will help your body to adjust and eventually fall asleep quicker. Turning off your phone or keeping it out of reach is also beneficial. It is very easy to stay awake scrolling on our phones, so keeping it out of reach may help to stay off of it. The quality of sleep is much more important for maintaining a healthy mind than we may think, so if you find that you are struggling with any of these symptoms, you can try these practical and manageable tips!