Getting Quality Sleep When Stressed
Sleep is an essential resource that keeps you healthy, mentally sharp, and able to cope with stress more effectively, among other things. Unfortunately, stressed and busy people tend to get less sleep than they need. According to a poll on this site, roughly 50% of readers like you are missing enough sleep to triple their risk of a car accident. Learn some of the cause of why stress and sleep deprivation seem to go together, and important techniques for getting the sleep you need.
Factors That Contribute to Lack of Sleep
The following are all common factors that contribute to lack of sleep:
Overthinking– Many people take their work home with them, either physically or metaphorically. And it makes sense: with today’s demanding workloads, it’s often hard to come home from a day of troubleshooting and automatically stop thinking about all the, well, trouble. Stay-at-home parents and students can experience this as well.
Over scheduling– A hectic, busy life can rob you of time you can actually dedicate to sleep. If you find yourself pushing your bedtime back further and further to get things done, or getting up earlier and earlier in the name of productivity, you may feel tired a lot of the time but not realize the toll lack of sleep is taking.
Anxiety- Like overthinking, anxiety can make sleep hard and wake you up at night. Anxiety keeps your mind busy as you imagine threatening scenarios and worry about what may happen next. You may become preoccupied with finding solutions. That racing of your mind can rob you of sleep by keeping your cortisol levels high, making sleep harder to achieve.
Try these tips if you find yourself regularly short on sleep:
Maintain Healthy Nighttime Habits: Keeping regular sleep-promoting nighttime habits can go a long way toward helping you consistently get more high-quality sleep. Here are some sleep-doctor-recommended strategies for promoting sleep by maintaining the right habits.
Release Your Stress: One great way to purge your body of stress so your mind can relax is to learn progressive muscle relaxation and deep muscle relaxation techniques. Meditation is also a proven tool to relax your body and quiet your mind; it can simply transition you into sleep. Here is how to get started with meditation.
