How Stress Affects Our Sleep
Our modern lives seem to be jam packed full of stress and anxiety. There are many factors that cause stress in our lives, just a few of these are: money worries, family, work and social commitments. Any of these factors can easily cause us health issues as well as disrupting our ability to sleep properly.
With the pace of life today (which has increased dramatically over the last couple of decades) we have found our lives getting faster and faster as we endeavor to fit everything we need to do into 24 hours. We now seem to find less time to slow down and have regular leisure time. By having regular leisure time, our bodies and minds can relax and unwind from our busy lives.
With our hectic lives it is not surprising that most people are affected by stress on a day to day basis. We all know and can easily recognize the signs of stress in our bodies, our muscles clench, our pulse rate increases and we have difficulty relaxing. But what is this constant stress doing to our bodies?
What Happens To Our Bodies When We Are Stressed?
When we are stressed our bodies think we are in danger and will automatically go into the ‘fight or flight’ reaction. When in the ‘fight or flight’ reaction our body responds to the perceived danger by increasing the amount of adrenaline and cortisol in our bodies. Our body then automaticly does what it thinks it needs to do in order to protect us from the danger. Our heart rate increases and sends extra blood flow to our muscles, at the same time slowing down our digestion in an effort to protect us. At one point in our evolution this was a much needed protection response, now in modern society when triggered on a regular basis it can be very detrimental to our health.
Stress Is The #1 Cause of Insomnia
When our bodies are stressed we tense up and blood flows at a quicker pace. It is this response that causes disruption in our sleep pattern.
We have all experienced the affects stress can have on our sleep on a regular basis. However with life becoming more and more stressful we are seeing a greater number of people affected by sleep disorders. Being able to achieve a healthy night’s sleep is essential to our ability to cope with everything going on in our lives.
Managing and preventing stress in our daily lives is a key part to being able to achieve a healthy night’s sleep. Deep breathing or meditation assists with the ability to cope with daily challenges and improve our life experience by reducing stress and increasing our peace.
Relaxation Exercise
Sleep is a vital to our bodies so that they can relax and rejuvenate. So what can we do about alleviating the amount of stress in our systems? When you feel that you are being overrun by the stressful situation around you the best thing to do is take a few minutes to let go of the stress and relax!
1 Sit in a comfortable chair in a quiet place,
2 Close your eyes and still your mind
3 Take 5 deep breaths, slowing releasing the air from your lungs
4 Relax you muscles and let go of all the tension in your body
5 Open your eyes
This type of exercise is quick and easy and can virtually be done anywhere at any time. By managing our stress better we will be able to live a healthier live, be more effective at what we are trying to achieve and sleep better.
