By Emily Stonehouse

Everyone sleeps, right?

Wrong. Over half of Canadians have reported trouble with their sleeping; including getting to sleep, staying asleep, or being sleepy throughout the day.

With the average adult spending over one third of their lifetime in the workforce, this constant state of drowsiness plays its part.

That’s where Kelsey Sharpless and Joelle Hill come in. “We are really working on bringing information on sleep and mental health into the community,” said Sharpless, a registered social worker and psychotherapist, based out of Minden. “There is such an interconnectedness between mental health and sleep,” agreed Hill, a certified sleep consultant.

Sharpless and Hill have paired up to bring the topic of sleep to the forefront across the community. The two specialists have their own practices, but were often connecting over referrals. They started to see some overlap in the needs of their clients; namely around sleep, and the impact it had on mental health in the workplace.

Through their research, it was noted that the top four stress symptoms that cause missed work days were fatigue, sleeplessness, aches/pains, and high anxiety. “With difficulty sleeping, it will impact your daily functioning,” noted Hill. “So we try to target employers and organizations to see how it impacts the workplace.”

The duo have taken their information on the road with a 60 to 90 minute presentation in an effort to bring sleep hygiene to the forefront. They have connected with multiple municipalities, the Ontario Early Years Centre, Haliburton Highlands Health Services, Scotia Bank, and the Minden Animal Hospital, to name a few.

From those organizations, 94 per cent of attendees would recommend the presentation to others, and 92 per cent stated that the presentation increased their understanding of individual and/or workplace wellness.

The issue with a lack of sleep is that it creates a vicious cycle, or a negative feedback loop that can simultaneously worsen mental health and sleep. Stress and worry can lead to declining mental health, which then leads to insomnia and sleeplessness, then feelings of fatigue, which results in difficulty focusing, and looping back to stress and worry. And the cycle continues.

“We talk about ways to manage anxiety by recognizing strategies for helpful thinking,” said Sharpless. “When we are dysregulated, we use mindfulness as a strategy for mental health.”

Hill noted that everyone is subject to a ‘bad night’ on occasion, “myself included,” she laughed. “But there are different sleep drivers such as iron levels, consistent schedules, and factors around sleep pressures that contribute to poor sleep patterns. “There is a very strong connection between depression and insomnia,” she said.

Sharpless shared that when they ask a group about concerns around sleeping, “a room full of hands shoot up,” she said. “They’re glad to have us there, to look at some solutions for them.”

Some healthy habits that contribute to a good night’s sleep are 20 minutes of movement a day, balanced eating without shame, journaling, and consistent self-care, to name a few items. The presentation also dives into methods of working around supporting factors for sleep, and how to develop safe and healthy routines to maximize that crucial need for sleep.

Once the initial presentation has taken place, Sharpless and Hill offer follow-up conversations, which include consultation, evaluation, and one-on-one support.

To book a presentation for the workplace, contact kelsey@kelseysharpless.com.

To learn more about the services and offerings, visit www.ksharplesscounselling.com and www.hillfamilysleepsolutions.com.