Getting Better Sleep- Reduce Your Stress and Live Better

If you can’t sleep, then get up and do something instead of lying there worrying. It’s the worry that gets you, not the lack of sleep. ~Dale Carnegie

Are you one of the 7 out of ten adults in the United States that experience stress or some type of anxiety daily and it interferes with your sleeping? (Source: 2007 Stress and anxiety Disorders Survey commissioned by the Anxiety Disorders Association of America) (http://www.adaa.org/understanding-anxiety/related-illnesses/other-related-conditions/stress/stress-and-anxiety-interfere)

• Most adults with a stress-induced sleep problem will experience trouble sleeping at least once a week, if not several times a week.
• Three-fourths of adults affected by stress say sleep problems increase their stress.
• 52 percent of men and 42 percent of women say that trouble sleeping due to stress affects their ability to stay focused during the day.
• Adults getting seven hours of sleep at least four nights a week: Only 61%
• The average adult sleeps 6.6 hours a night.
• Women are more likely to experience sleep problems due to stress, as opposed to men.  Source: (ADAA).
• Adults with high levels of stress are more likely to admit they aren’t getting enough sleep because their minds are racing: 49 percent vs.10 percent with low stress. (Source: http://www.apa.org/)

It’s no wonder you are having trouble sleeping. You are faced with stress on a day to day basis. It can be emotional, environmental, physical or mental. Stress takes an intense toll on your overall health and well-being. It affects you not only physically, but mentally, as well. It’s one of the leading causes of sleep deprivation. And the less sleep you get the more stress you often feel. It’s a nasty cycle.

This Sleep-Stress cycle is real. Research indicates links between sleep and stress lead to the potential for a vicious cycle of exhaustion and more stress.

Stress impacts how you sleep. And vice versa, sleep affects the amount of stress you have. You’ve probably had the experience of lying in bed, late at night, hour after hour staring at the ceiling while your daily stressors loop through your mind.

A survey done by the American Psychological Association shows that stress is the cause for adults getting only 6.7 hours of sleep, many adults reporting that their stress increases as the length and quality of their sleep decreases.

The survey continued, saying thirty-seven percent of adults feel tired because of stress. Not only that, adults not getting enough sleep, roughly 53 percent, report feeling lazy or sluggish, 38 percent felt irritable, 29 percent had trouble concentrating and 25 percent had no motivation.

Sleep is our natural state of rest for both the body and the mind. A third of our lives are spent sleeping, yet we often take it for granted. Difficulty sleeping has become the norm for millions of people. Are there ways you can combat this to get better sleep? And why is a good night’s sleep necessary?

Next; Why is a good night’s sleep necessary?