Don’t Let Stress Keep You Up at Night

While most people don’t welcome stress in their lives, it is a natural part of life. The body can handle short-term stress fairly well. In fact, our bodies are designed to respond to those types of stressful situations in a timely and decisive manner.

But stress can build up to the point where you feel you can’t take it anymore. When that happens, sleep is often the first thing out the window and the last thing on the priority list. It’s easy to get stuck in a vicious cycle.

When you’re feeling stressed, you may have trouble falling asleep at night or wake up too early in the morning. Or you may wake up in the middle of the night and lie there worrying. The next day, lack of sleep can wreck your concentration and hurt your work performance.

It can also leave you feeling cranky, anxious or depressed, making the stress even worse. And it can make those around you—whether it’s your coworkers, your family or your friends—take note.

Fortunately, it’s not something you have to accept. You can break free from this cycle. If you have too much stress and not enough sleep in your life, try these three basic tips:

• Focus on sleep: When you’re under stress, it’s more important than ever to make sleep a priority. Allow for eight hours of sleep each night, even when life gets hectic. Setting and sticking with a routine will also help your body, so make sure you go to bed and get up at the same time each day, even on the weekends.

• Hit the gym: Exercise not only lets you blow off steam, but also helps regulate your sleep-wake cycle. Your body temperature varies slightly during the day, rising during vigorous exercise and falling during sleep. A late-afternoon workout sets up a pattern that leads to a well-timed dip in body temperature later. Working out too late in the day, however, can keep you from falling asleep soon after.

• Nix the nightcap: While it may make you feel relaxed or sleepy, alcohol is not a good sleep aid. It may help you fall asleep initially, but chances are, you’ll be wide awake again in the middle of the night.

Simple lifestyle changes may be all it takes to manage an occasional sleepless night. But if you have more disruptive or long-lasting sleep problems, you should consider getting a medical assessment to see if treatment is needed.

How do you know? Ask yourself these questions:

• Have I had trouble sleeping at least three nights a week for a month or longer?

• Am I falling asleep while driving?

• Am I having problems with concentration or memory at work?

• Am I increasingly irritable or depressed?

If you answered “yes” to any of these questions, talk with your primary care physician or a sleep specialist. If a sleep disorder is suspected, you’ll be referred for overnight testing at a sleep center.

Sleep center specialists can assess the reasons for insomnia and diagnose any sleep disorders. Some of the more common disorders are Circadian rhythm sleep disorder, which is a mismatch between your body’s internal clock and the actual time of day, and obstructive sleep apnea, which causes repeated pauses in your breathing during sleep.

Based on the diagnosis, there are many treatment options, including lifestyle changes, medications or a machine that uses air pressure to keep your upper airway open during sleep.

With today’s expertise in sleep medicine, there’s no reason to suffer through sleepless nights and weary days.