Excessive stress causes sleeping problems, and sleeping problems cause stress. If you want to get out of this vicious cycle… use the guidelines in these articles.
If you feel strung out at night and find it difficult to fall asleep, or you wake up in the night with a busy mind and/or a racing heart, then it is likely that stress is contributing to your sleeping problems. Excessive stress may have been the initial cause of your difficulties with sleep, or it may be that your inability to sleep well is causing you stress.
Can you relate to an underlying feeling of pressure and tension that builds up throughout the day and makes it difficult to unwind at night? It is most likely due to stress hormones and chemicals building up in your body. By giving your mind and body a break from stress a few times during the day, you’ll reduce your overall stress levels and improve your sleep quality.
When you feel exhausted, it is a signal that you need to rest. If you constantly ignore the signal and push yourself to keep going, you’ll only get more exhausted, stressed and burnt out. Contrary to popular belief, if you’re totally exhausted, it is actually difficult to sleep well. That’s because when you push past tiredness, you activate the stress response in your body, which makes it difficult to unwind and sleep well.
