Ditch Stress

No doubt you’ve heard that sleep is crucial for good health, but sleep and stress can have a complicated relationship. Like Facebook, “it’s complicated” levels. Not sleeping increases stress levels, but high stress levels can make it difficult to fall and stay asleep. It’s a vicious cycle that can be very frustrating to break out of. 

We want to help, by giving you all the background info so you understand what’s going on, and then some hot tips on how to break the cycle and start getting all those ZZZZZs.

First off, it’s important to acknowledge that it can be difficult to prioritize sleep in our hustle culture. We can feel constantly pressured to ya know, get sh$t done. Maybe you’ve seen a productivity guru on YouTube telling you that getting like 4-5 hours a night is okay, as long as you don’t “feel tired”. And let’s be real, we’ve all had deadlines, stressors and busy weeks where something had to give, and many times sleep was often it.

Let’s explore the relationship between stress and sleep, what insomnia is, the effects of lack of sleep on physical and mental wellbeing, and tips to get more and better sleep.

Sleep and Stress

There is more to good sleep than just the hours you spend in bed, and healthy sleep has three important parts. One is how much sleep you get. The second is sleep quality, so the uninterrupted and refreshing kind. The last is a consistent sleep schedule, waking up and going to bed at about the same time each night.

Stress and anxiety can often lead to insomnia and other sleep problems. This is because high levels of stress impair sleep in two ways: by prolonging how long it takes to fall asleep and then by fragmenting the sleep we do get. This means we are getting less of those critical sleep hours and even when we sleep, we wake up a lot during the night, and the quality of our sleep goes down.

Research demonstrates that lack of sleep renders you more impulsive, emotionally reactive, as well as heightened sensitivity to negative stimuli. These sleep-driven cognitive impairments can create stress in any number of ways, from creating difficulties in relationships to causing job performance issues.

Sleep and cortisol

The presence of stress raises cortisol levels, a hormone that stimulates vigilance and alertness, while raising heart rate and blood pressure. Typically, your cortisol levels should fall in the evening hours, as one part of the body’s natural preparation for sleep. When you have high cortisol levels at night, it interferes with the release of melatonin, a hormone that is essential for the regulation of sleep-wake cycles. 

Sleep loss also triggers our body’s stress response system. This leads to a rise in stress hormones, specifically cortisol, which further disrupts sleep. Also some coping methods, such as drinking alcohol, can disrupt sleep. This is why sleep and stress often create a vicious cycle. Not sleeping can make sleeping harder!

To add to that, problems like worry, chronic pain, or difficult situations in your life can leave you with more stress hormones circulating in your body than usual. Having a poor night’s sleep adds even more stress hormones, which only further negatively impacts sleep. And those hormones might never be broken down fully.

Elevated stress levels also have been shown to have an effect on the structural organization of sleep. This often changes the duration of each sleep stage, which include N1 and N2, as well as deep sleep and REM. All of the stages of sleep are necessary and none is better than another. Ideally you need a balance of around 25% REM and 25% of the deepest NREM sleep.

When people experience chronic stress they can have a decrease in the amount of time spent in both REM and deep sleep. This can have quite an impact, leading to fatigue, mood disruptions and even changes to cognition and memory. It can also lead to physical symptoms, like an increased risk of type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular health issues.

Sleep researcher Matthew Walker has literally written the book on sleep and he has some very clear and compelling evidence that sleep is critical for both physical and mental health. He feels that sleep is the very cornerstone of all health, both physical and mental. “The physical and mental impairments caused by one night of bad sleep dwarf those caused by an equivalent absence of food or exercise.”

Insomnia

Insomnia is the most common sleep disorder, and is defined as a persistent difficulty with sleep onset, maintenance, consolidation, or overall quality. This problem occurs even when there is sufficient time allotted for sleep on a given night and the person has a comfortable place to sleep. 

Commonly insomnia symptoms begin to dissipate once the stressful situation gets resolved and overall stress subsides. However, some people can fall into a cyclical pattern where they experience sleep loss at night, and then also daytime anxiety, which can further contribute to stress. Stress and sleep problems have a mutual relationship, when you solve the problem of one it can often correct the other.

The most common symptoms for people with insomnia are fatigue, excessive daytime sleepiness, irritability, and other impairments when they are awake. Though the prevalence of insomnia varies from study to study, research shows that chronic insomnia is highly prevalent. Various studies worldwide have shown the prevalence of insomnia in 10%–30% of the population. It is common in females, older adults, and people with medical and mental health issues.

Insomnia symptoms may include:

• Having trouble falling asleep at night.
• Waking during the night.
• Waking up too early.
• Feeling sleepy or tired during the day.
• Feeling anxious, depressed or cranky.
• Having a hard time focusing on tasks, paying attention, or remembering.
• Making more mistakes.
• Worrying about sleep.

Insomnia can be either acute or chronic. Acute insomnia is when a person experiences symptoms in the short-term, for less than three months. It becomes chronic insomnia when the symptoms occur at least three times a week for at least three months. Persistent stressors, like ongoing conflict in a relationship, can immensely contribute to chronic insomnia.

It’s essential to note that chronic stress is not the only reason that someone might develop chronic insomnia, but those with anxiety are at higher risk. Changes to one’s sleep schedule due to life events such as moving or having a baby, can also lead to insomnia. When chronic insomnia takes hold, anxiety about sleeping often follows, leading  people to feel very anxious about sleeping and other areas of their life. This can increase day-to-day stress, which in turn can intensify insomnia symptoms.

Does Sleep Help Stress?

Sleep is a powerful stress reducer. Following a regular sleep routine calms and restores both the mind and the body. It also improves concentration, helps to regulate mood, and improves judgment and decision-making. When you are well-rested you solve problems more easily and are able to manage stress better as well.

Getting enough sleep on a nightly basis is a very effective way to alleviate stress. Unfortunately, a good night’s rest can be tricky if you are stressed, especially so if sleep issues are a major source of your day-to-day anxieties.

This is why using multiple stress relieving measures in concert with getting the best sleep you can is so important. Some of these include regularly exercising and maintaining a healthy support network of family and friends. However, sufficient sleep is a critical factor in managing stress levels.

While stress management is key to a good night’s sleep, you can also build daily habits that help to lower your stress levels. You can alleviate stress by using techniques like controlled breathing or other relaxation techniques. A healthy work-life balance is important, and goes a long way. Also your ability to prevent the internalization of your stressors can have a big impact on reducing overall stress levels.

Adults who sleep fewer than eight hours a night report higher stress levels than those who sleep at least eight hours a night. On average, adults with lower reported stress levels report sleeping more hours a night than do adults with higher reported stress levels. Clearly stress and sleep are highly interrelated!

Being real here, I have struggled with insomnia my whole life, and really only in the last 4 years have I got my sleep really dialed in (asides from those days where you have an early flight or I am super nervous). We will start with some of the really common tips for sleep and then move on to a few that you might not have heard of.

Sleep Hygiene

What is sleep hygiene? It’s building an environment and set of routines that support healthy sleep patterns. This can improve your sleep quality and duration, which will leave you more refreshed and prepared to manage stress.

The “Usual Suspects” Tips:

1. Keep a strict sleep schedule: Go to bed and wake up at the same time each day, including weekends and traveling.
2. Create an optimal bedroom atmosphere: Your bedroom should feel relaxing. Keep the lights dim and reduce noise exposure. Experts generally recommend 60-67 degrees with 65 degrees being ideal. Reserve bed for sex and sleep.
3. Put away electronics before bed: Televisions, smartphones and computers emit blue light that can interfere with sleep. Turn these off an hour before bed and keep them out of the bedroom at all times.
4. Reducing stimulant consumption: Avoid caffeine and nicotine in the hours before bed, ideally 5 hours before you plan to go to sleep. Caffeine has a half life of about 5 hours, so keep it to the am. Stimulants can keep you feeling awake when it should be time for sleep.
5. Avoid alcohol before bed: Alcohol can be problematic for sleep, even with its sedative properties. Alcohol can cause sleep fragmentation, while the body processes and breaks down alcohol, reducing sleep quality
6. Get regular exercise: Aim to get moderate exercise in the morning or early afternoon to help you wind down and fall asleep more easily.  Avoid vigorous activity for at least one hour before bedtime.
7. If you’re not sleeping, get out of bed: Continuing to lay in bed when you are too stressed to sleep can be counterproductive. If you have not fallen asleep within 12-20 minutes, get out of bed and go to another area of your home and try a relaxing activity such as reading or listening to calm music.
8. Wear an eye mask and earplugs: Studies have shown that people wearing eye masks and ear plugs reported improved subjective sleep quality.
9. Take a warm bath prior to but not immediately before bedtime. Warming your body through baths or showers an hour or two before bed may help you fall asleep faster and stay asleep longer.

Hot Tips:

1. Get bright light in the morning, this will facilitate your circadian rhythm, which makes it easier to fall asleep at night, and wake up in the morning. If it’s dark outside, use a therapy light with at least 10,000 LUX. Also try to get some sun during the day, if possible.
2. Get outdoors during the day when the light intensity is higher is more beneficial than lower-intensity evening sunlight. This counts even when it’s not sunny!
3. Avoid large meals before bedtime, and have an early dinner, ideally 2 to 3 hours before going to bed. Eating late prevents your body from warming up, which is important to initiate sleep cycles. Bodily functions such as insulin and glucose metabolism are also disrupted when you have a late evening meal, and can also result in GERD.
4. Read a printed book instead of electronic devices, as the light emitted from electronic devices, such as phones and tablets, can disturb your sleep rhythm.
5. Make sure your mattress is comfortable. The type of mattress that you use can impact the quality of your sleep.
6. Replace worries with positive thoughts. Worries, along with negative emotions and thoughts related to stress in our lives can keep you from falling asleep. Instead of trying to suppress them, work to cultivate positive emotions through mindfulness, such as gratitude.
7. Tense your toes: Try alternately tensing and relaxing your toes for a count of 10 each time. Doing this draws tension away from the rest of the body, helping you to relax.
8. Increasing your Magnesium. Magnesium has been shown to lower cortisol levels, as well as increase sleep time and sleep efficiency. Foods rich in magnesium include spinach, beans, lentils, almonds, peanut butter, pumpkin seeds and prickly pears.
9. Think about adaptogens. These natural remedies such as Rhodiola, Ashwagandha, and Schisandra, have been shown to reduce inflammation and pain, lower anxiety, and, perhaps most notably, balance cortisol levels so you can achieve a deep and restful sleep at night.

It’s important to note that your circadian rhythm plays a huge role in determining the quality of your sleep. Circadian rhythms are physical, mental, and behavioral changes that follow a 24-hour cycle. These natural processes respond primarily to light and dark and affect most living things, including animals, plants, and microbes!

Understanding that sleep is essential for your health is great, but it’s not so great if you are so wrapped up in trying to sleep that you end up not sleeping. Sleep anxiety, a feeling of stress or fear about going to sleep, is a real thing! Keep in mind these three tips:

• If you can’t sleep, focus on resting instead. It’s good too!
• Getting a bad night’s sleep is not a guarantee for a bad day, but stressing about it is.
• Somedays, the best sleep you can get is the sleep you get.

It’s important to remember: There is no such thing as perfect sleep. If you start to think “I’m not sleeping, this is terrible” try to reframe it to “I choose to rest instead.” Just get the sleep you can get. You will be able to function the next day, even if your anxiety is insisting otherwise. Implementing these sleep strategies may require some adjustments, but the positive impact on your restfulness, daily functioning, and stress levels will be well worth the effort. You don’t have to use all the strategies at once—starting with just one and gradually incorporating more can still lead to significant improvements in your sleep quality!

Want to learn more about how to set yourself up for sleep success? Check out our Night Time Routines 101 post!