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Cat Miller explores why quality sleep is vital for your overall health and mental wellbeing.
Key takeaways
- Sleep became one of the first things founder Cat Miller worked on, sparked by her own brain fog and depression.
- Better sleep didn't "cure" her depression, but it remains one of her steady, ongoing practices.
- She aims for bed by around 10:30 and 6 to 8 hours of sleep (common guidance is 7 to 9).
- Sleep and mental health are closely connected, worth taking seriously as part of feeling well.
What Cat Shares
In this short, personal reflection, ThisWayUp founder Cat Miller explains how central sleep has been to her own mental health. At the beginning of her brain fog and depression, "all I wanted to do was sleep," so one of the very first things she tried was finding ways to sleep well. She's honest that it wasn't a cure, "that didn't solve my depression problem", but it became one of her many lasting practices.
Her routine is simple and realistic: in bed by around 10:30, aiming for six to eight hours, even though the standard advice is seven to nine. The takeaway isn't a rigid rule, it's that protecting your sleep is a foundational, doable place to start when you're working on your mental health.
Video Transcript
Transcript (lightly edited for reading):
Sleep has always been an important thing to me. Given the beginning of my brain fog and depression, all I wanted to do was sleep. So probably one of the first things I tried was finding out ways to get great sleep. That didn't solve my depression problem, but I have absolutely continued it as one of my many practices. To be sure, I go to bed generally by 10:30 and I get six to eight hours of sleep. I know you're supposed to get seven to nine. Six to eight seems to work pretty well for me.
Common Questions
How are sleep and depression connected?
They feed into each other. Cat describes how, in the depths of her brain fog and depression, "all I wanted to do was sleep", a common experience. Working on sleep became one of her first steps toward feeling better.
Does fixing your sleep cure depression?
No, and Cat is candid about that: improving her sleep "didn't solve my depression problem." But it became a reliable, supportive practice she's kept up ever since.
How much sleep do you actually need?
The common guidance is seven to nine hours. Cat finds six to eight works well for her, a reminder that the right amount can vary from person to person.
Where's a simple place to start with better sleep?
A consistent bedtime. Cat aims to be in bed by around 10:30. Treating sleep as a foundational practice, rather than an afterthought, is the starting point.
