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5 Tips to Break The Stress Sleep Cycle

Have you been having trouble sleeping? 

After the past year, it’s not surprising that people have been reporting feeling more stressed. Whether it’s about health, the future, your family or job, there are a whole host of legitimate reasons why you would be feeling more anxious. And it’s only natural that these stressors might be making it hard to get a peaceful night’s sleep.

In fact, according to a recent study, there has been a sharp increase in disruptions to sleep because of stress and anxiety since the social and health restrictions started in March and April 2020. And even before this past year, a sleep survey conducted in 2018 reported that one in four people in Britain have trouble sleeping because of stress, coming in as the number one factor as to why people lose sleep.

We all know that a lack of sleep can make it hard for us to focus, which might lead to poor performances at work or school. But that’s not the only adverse effect that you might experience because stress is disrupting your sleep. The NHS confirms that regular poor sleep can lead to some pretty serious consequences to our health like obesity, heart disease and diabetes. 

How does stress affect sleep?

Normally at night our body releases large amounts of serotonin to help us sleep. However, when we’re feeling stressed our brains (or more specifically the hypothalamus) reacts by releasing stress hormones such as cortisol which sends us into a state of alertness. So we lie in bed at night, wide awake, worrying about things that have already happened, things that we need to do or even things that we have no control over. This inability to sleep can cause people to start over-thinking and become more stressed which keeps the brain active and alert and makes it even harder for people to relax and get some sleep. 

Unfortunately, this contributes to a cycle of stress and sleeplessness. Studies have shown that lack of sleep can cause your body to boost levels of cortisol, maybe as an attempt to force the body into alertness to get through the day. And so the next day you’re still feeling stressed and, on top of that, your sleeplessness could affect your work performance and cause you to be irritable and snap at your co-workers, friends and family. Then at night, the stress still prevents you from sleeping and so on. You’re tired, stressed, unhappy and you still can’t sleep. Experts have taken to calling this the “stress-sleep cycle”.

 

How can we break the stress-sleep cycle?

So what can you do to break the cycle and finally get some sleep? Well, there are small changes we can make to our lifestyle that can help improve our mental wellbeing and hopefully improve our sleep.

1. Physical activity is a great way to help reduce stress and balance our body’s hormone levels. The release of cortisol and other stress hormones when we are stressed can make it hard to fall asleep. Exercise helps to reduce these levels of cortisol and adrenaline. It also helps to stimulate the production of endorphins which can improve your mood and help improve your sleep by making you feel happier and more content. 

2. Create a regular bedtime routine. Keeping the time you go to bed and wake up as consistent as possible can help maintain and support your internal body clock. Over time, training your mind and body to keep to a regular schedule should help improve your metal wellbeing and your sleep. 

3. Turn off your electronic devices an hour before you sleep. Bright lights work to stimulate our brains which can interfere with our internal body clock and make it more difficult to fall asleep.

4. Try to reduce your stress hormone levels. Finding ways to reduce your cortisol and adrenaline levels to help decrease stress levels before we go to bed might be difficult, but it is necessary to help our bodies relax enough to allow us to sleep. It might take you some time to find something that works for you, and everyone will be different. You could try meditation or deep breathing techniques to help relieve your anxiety. Or maybe a hot bath with herbal remedies such as magnesium infused bath salts could work for you. Magnesium helps to control the body’s stress response and stabilise mood. It works by helping to maintain melatonin levels and is also necessary for ensuring the body has healthy levels of GABA, a neurotransmitter shown to help with anxiety and depression. You could also try a Lavender essential oil pillow spray. Lavender is known for its calming and soothing properties. Studies show that it decreases blood pressure, heart rate and skin temperature, all of which will help your body relax and bring you closer to a more peaceful sleep.

5. Use a natural herbal remedy. The Naturality Lab has worked with industry experts to develop Sleep support 5-HTP which has been carefully extracted from high grade griffonia seeds. 5-HTP is naturally produced in our bodies from the amino acid L-tryptophan which is converted into serotonin, the hormone responsible for promoting a calm and relaxed mood. Serotonin is a vital component of melatonin which helps the body’s internal clock stay in sync. By taking 5-HTP, it helps to shorten the time it takes to fall asleep and overall increases the time you stay asleep.  



Most people’s stress and sleep problems can be improved by making slight changes to our everyday routine and habits. If after two weeks you do not feel an improvement, it might be time to seek a professional’s opinion on what can be done to help you.

Source: Source: Economic & Social Research, Southampton Univ (Aug 2020); Dr Ebraheim, the London Sleep Centre; Flakingham J, Evandrou M, Qin M & Vlachantoni A (2020) Sleepless in Lockdown: unpacking differences in sleep loss during the coronavirus pandemic in the UK; Chemist4U (2018)  UK 2018 Sleep Survery & Statistics; NHS (2018) Why lack of sleep is bad for your health; Kim E-J & Dimsdale J E (2014) The Effect of Psycholofical Stress on Sleep: A Review of Polysomnographic Evidence; Nicolaides, N. C., Vgontzas, A. N., Kritikou, I., & Chrousos, G. (2020) HPA Axis and Sleep.