Do you notice that you experience more stress lately? And do you sleep more poorly? It is possible that there is a link between the two. it namely is so that stress can have a large influence on your sleeping pattern. Stress can make it so that we do not sleep as well, but also that we wake up a lot during the night. Read more here about the influence which stress can have on your sleeping pattern.
Stress and sleep? The influence of stress
If you have stress, you notice that you start to worry more and more often about what you could do better or what you should have done better. you also often have the feeling that you cannot relax, even when you are at home and try to do so. This also goes for when you want to go to sleep. You are tired and you would love to sleep a few extra hours, but your brain does not agree to this. Instead, it makes you lie awake and think about what you have to do the next day, or what you could have done better today... In short, you start to worry. Because of this, your brain will remain active and you will be unable to sleep. Especially when you see that it is the middle of the night, you think that it really is time to fall asleep, and with a little bit of luck you eventually manage to fall asleep. But not for long. After a few hours you wake up again, and this goes on throughout the nights. Sometimes you wake up very early, and your brain starts to work on full speed, meaning you cannot fall asleep again. Then you just get up and start your day, hoping you will be able to sleep some more the next night. This is a typical phenomenon of someone who experiences stress. You start to worry, do not get the sleep which you need, and the stress will make it so that you wake up often during the night, which gives you the feeling that you have hardly slept. Stress can namely make it so that you get fewer phases of deep sleep, which is the type of sleep which your body and mind need to recover. Despite your worrying, you are unlikely to find solutions to whatever it is that you want to deal with, because your brain is too tired.
Stress and sleeping? The solution!
15 Minutes 4 Me developed an online self-help program which helps people with stress to deal with their stress, which is something which could also influence their sleeping pattern. Many people see that, when they reduce their stress, they also find it easier to fall asleep, and their nights become more peaceful.
Stress and sleeping? Take the stress test!
Would you like to know to what extent stress can have an influence on your sleeping pattern? Then take our free online stress test here and discover your level of stress!