How important is sleep for a person with a mental illness and why?

I was talking to a fellow schizophrenic and they told me that sleep was very important because our brains need to process what is happening to us. How important is sleep to you and why?

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Idk why but it is known that sleep deprivation can trigger psychosis that’s enough reason for me to get as much sleep as I feel I need

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My doc told me sleep was a big factor in determining how well someone is doing.

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I think sleep is important for everybody. Healthy or unhealthy.

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I just don’t sleep sometimes. It’s been going on for years and years. My symptoms are much worse if I get no sleep at all. I try to at least lie down and rest my body.

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I used to see this guy and I could never sleep nearby him. Lol he took it as an offense I think.
I got psychotic possibly that sleep deprivation contributed

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I think sleep is important. We are best when well rested.

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If I go more than 24 hours without sleep I get very psychotic.

Good sleep is one of the best things for many illnesses, be it physical or mental.

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I sleep but it is not the same quality of sleep I used to get. I don’t get into a deep sleep that takes me time to focus on being awake. I jump up in too big a hurry.

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Sometimes I end up staying up all night and going to bed early the next night, I always feel bad when I’m past 24 hours with no sleep. It really makes the day hard to enjoy.

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I read an article today that said it is super important especially for those who have a mental illness.

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It is very important for brain health.

I have noticed that I cannot get the same quality of sleep I did before my psychotic break. It is less restorative now.

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If I don’t get enough sleep then I feel lousy and tired the next day.

I went to work on 4 or 5 or 6 hours of sleep regularly the two years when I was in the board & care home.
In fact, I got a few hours of sleep, got up the next morning at 6:30 am walked four blocks to my car, drove an hour to work through heavy traffic, and worked 6 hours. Got off and drove an hour home afterwards through heavy traffic again. Parked my car, walked 4 blocks back home.
I was in my fifties.

I couldn’t do that again. I have too much wear and tear on my body and mind. I moved in here two years ago. I park my car out back in a 4-car carport and I am closer to work and I am only on the freeway a short time and it takes as little as 20-25 minutes to get to work and I drive city streets and the traffic never gets horrible.

But until a few months ago I was still only getting about 4 or 5 hours of sleep and I was constantly late so my job moved by start time up to 10:00 am and now I am rarely late. But for these past two years I was exhausted at work and way slowed down due to lack of sleep. Now I get more sleep and I feel dramatically better at work. My body ain’t 17 any more, I need my sleep.

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Since going on the abilify I wake up every 20 mins to half an hour and get the worst nights sleep. My pdoc gave me some zopiclone so I could have 3 of those per week. That stopped working. I’ve very recently started using my prn diazepam for sleep and that helps a bit.

Sleep is the bane of my life. :unamused:

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