A good night's sleep is the key to excellent health! However, a lack of sleep can make you mentally more irritated and less effective, which will increase your stress. Chronic insomnia can also cause chronic stress with poor health consequences. This article will help you understand the relationship between stress and insomnia and how to get rid of it!
According to a study by the National Institute of Sleep and Vigilance, 30% of French suffer from sleep disorders including 16% affected by insomnia. Insomnia can be caused by mental or medical factors, unhealthy sleeping patterns, specific substances and / or certain biological factors.
How can insomnia be linked to stress?
Most adults have difficulty sleeping because they feel worried or nervous, but for some, it is a pattern that regularly affects sleep. Symptoms of stress that can lead to insomnia include:
- To be under pressure
- Have excessive worry about future events
- Feeling overwhelmed by responsibilities
It is not difficult to understand why these symptoms of general stress can make sleep difficult. Stress can be associated with difficulty falling asleep or going back to sleep; in both cases, the calm and inactivity of the night lead to stressful thoughts that prevent the person from enjoying a restful sleep.
When this happens several nights (or months), you may begin to feel anxiety, fear, or panic at the thought of not sleeping. This is how stress and insomnia can feed and become a vicious cycle that should be interrupted by treatment.
A study from Laval University, Sainte-Foy, Quebec, Canada, examined the relationship between stress and sleep patterns. The results showed that people who slept well have an equivalent number of minor stressful events. However, insomniacs estimated that the impact of minor daily stressors and the intensity of major adverse events in life were higher than those of good sleepers.
How can I tell if my insomnia is the result of stress or something else?
It is important to draw up a list of questions to better understand your situation and thus find a solution:
- When did insomnia begin?
- Does the problem of sleep come and go with the appearance and disappearance of stress or does it persist during all changes in life?
- Are you often worried about whether you are under unusual stress?
- Is it difficult for you to relax at the end of the day?
- Are you often angry?
- Your problem may be a mood disorder?
- Are not you depressed?
- What should I do to overcome my insomnia?
There are cognitive techniques and body-mind techniques that help anxious people to fall asleep, as well as psychological therapies to treat the trigger of insomnia that is stress.
However, here are some tips to relieve your insomnia:
Create a sleep ritual: Begin by setting your bedtime and wake time based on how many hours of sleep you need. For example, if you sleep only five hours a night, set your sleep time to that number. Then gradually increase the sleep time by approximately 15 minutes every few nights.
Relax before sleep: A person suffering from insomnia needs a period that allows activation processes in the brain to be resorbed and alert mechanisms to reduce their activity so that sleep systems can take the top. Stop all work and end phone calls, family and friends, opt for reading or music.
Put the odds on your side for a good night's sleep: Make sure the bed is comfortable, air and humidify the room, choose a room temperature between 16 ° and 18 ° and avoid heavy meals late in the evening .
Do not hesitate to seek the help of an expert if your insomnia lasts more than two weeks!
