Your child brings home a report card filled with low marks. Your dog just bit your neighbor, and the sink in the kitchen no longer works. You feel you’re under major stress. As a result, you find yourself tossing and turning at night, unable to get a good night’s sleep. This is truly unfortunate, because sleep can re-charge a person’s batteries, enabling him or her to better tackle the stressors that come along the road.
Stress-induced insomnia can take a variety
of forms. For instance, you may have
difficulty falling asleep in the first place.
Or you may wake up hours earlier than you should. You may find yourself waking up several times
during the middle of the night. Or you
may even find that you feel tired when you wake up in the morning because you
didn’t get good quality sleep.
One important point to remember is that you
are not alone. Just about everyone
suffers from lack of sleep at some point in life. That said, dealing with insomnia can be
exhausting. You might feel run down
during the day and have difficulty concentrating. You may turn to coffee in order to keep awake
during the daylight hours, which can lead to a feeling of restlessness. You may even try taking a nap in the
mid-morning or late afternoon, only to find that you have difficulty sleeping
again at night.
While old age, depression, and substance
abuse can all lead to insomnia, it might be said that the number one cause is
stress. If your insomnia persists for a
week, you should contact your doctor. He
or she may prescribe medication to enable you to get to sleep more quickly. But you should be aware that there are other
techniques you can use to deal with stress-related insomnia.
To begin with, try to determine the root
cause of your stress. This might be your
job, your home life, or even some of your recreational activities. Next, determine whether you are
overscheduled. By eliminating some of
your commitments, you might be able to seriously reduce your stress level. Then, do some problem-solving. How can you make a stressful situation
better? It could involve engaging in
positive thinking, changing your attitude about the situation, or coming up with
solutions to resolve the situation.
There are also some concrete steps you can
take to improve your sleep. For
instance, make sure that your bedroom is conducive to sleep. This means finding the most comfortable bedding
available, decorating your room with soft, subtle colors, and eliminating
clutter or other signs of work in progress.
In addition, condition yourself to
associate your bed with sleep. This
means resisting the temptation to do work in bed, or study for your classes
while lying down. You should even try to
avoid watching TV programs in bed. The
idea here is to eliminate stimulants from your sleeping area which could
prevent you from falling asleep. If you
like to read in bed, make sure that you read only fun, pleasurable books, not
significant tomes that could keep you up at night.
One other helpful tip is to set up a
regular routine prior to going to bed.
It may involve taking a bath or shower to relax you or drinking some
milk right before settling down to sleep.
Also, try to get up at the same time every morning so that you are
following an established schedule. In
addition, make sure that you do not engage in drinking beverages with caffeine
or alcoholic drinks after dinner.
Insomnia is one of the most dangerous
side-effects of stress. It can rob you
of your energy, strength, and endurance.
It can make the simplest tasks difficult to handle during the course of
the day. And it can even lead to major
depression. If you find yourself having
trouble getting to sleep at night, take immediate action. Don’t wait for your body to feel the stress
of night after night of sleeplessness. The
more proactive you are, the greater the likelihood that you’ll be able to
combat insomnia, as well as the stress that goes with it. Refreshed and renewed, you’ll be able to
take on the challenges that come your way once you’ve gotten enough sleep.
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