With the ever-increasing hustle and pace of life, health concerns like How to Relieve Your stress are on the rise. Stress and anxiety have become part and parcel of life. People slowly sliding into depression are one of the most common sights.
You don’t need to be a doctor to tell when your body is not responding well. The present lifestyle choices have started taking a toll on physical and mental well-being.
The concerns are many, but the reasons few. One of these reasons is the distorted work-life balance and the disturb sleep patterns.
It could be a busy day at work, or an important assignment, or just an argument with a peer. Carrying it all to your bedtime might cause more damage than you imagine. This kind of life pattern interfere with our ability to get a good night’s sleep.
A disrupted sleep cycle further can cause harm to your health along with efficiency. Our discussion today thus focuses on How to Relieve Your Stress before Bedtime and the ways to achieve it.
Need For A Good Night’s Sleep –
It is not difficult to understand that our sleep patterns have a direct or indirect impact on our health. It not only impacts our physical well-being but also influences our daily performance.
More often than not sleep cycle undergoes disruption due to stressful situations. The relationship between stress and sleep is reciprocal. A good night sleep is essential to allow the body to restore. This restorative process helps regulate stress levels.
When we are under stress, our body releases cortisol which disrupts the sleep-wake cycle. A disturbed sleep cycle is most likely to cause difficulty in sleeping or even keep you awake the entire night.
Poor sleep quality, anxiety during night time, and frequent awakenings are direct consequences of a disturbed sleep pattern.
This process meddles with the mental well being resulting in a lack of physical strength and will. So to create a productive day, one must create a healthy sleep cycle.
How Sleep Reduces Stress?
As discussed above on How to Relieve Your Stress, it has a reciprocal relationship with stress. More the stress, the less you sleep. Likewise by improving the quantity and quality of sleep, one can also reduce stress.
Sleep plays a crucial role in reducing stress and promoting overall health. Let us try to understand this relationship better by knowing the advantages of good sleep –
- Cortisol Regulation – Sleep helps in regulating Cortisol, popular as the stress hormone. Adequate hours of sleep allow cortisol to maintain its flow, high in the morning and low during the night. This balance helps the body to manage stress effectively.
- Emotional Balance – sufficient sleep has a significant impact on emotions and resilience. You are more likely to cope with stressful situations if you are well-rested and have a calm mind. Thus adequate sleep is essential to build a strong emotional balance.
- Cognitive Action – Sleep improves your memory, focus and problem-solving aptitude. You are more likely to make hasty and impulsive decisions when sleep deprived thereby making it more difficult to deal with stress. Sufficient sleep ensures optimal brain functioning and a more focused mind.
- Physical Strength – the body repairs itself of any injuries during your sleep hours. It promotes muscle relaxation resulting in physical well-being. This helps to alleviate stress levels and improve performance.
- Mood Regulation – low sleep during the night makes you feel lazy and irritated in the morning. This makes one more susceptible to stress. A well-rested person is well-equipped with facing the struggles of the new day making sleep a necessity.
- Restoration of Energy – Sleeping during night helps the body to replenish the lost energy. The physical and mental energy we get during the day helps us in utilizing the next day to its full potential. It also reduces stress levels by providing the needed energy.
The above points explain how sleep has a vital influence on our daily routine. By keeping the body energised and the mind active it helps in reducing stress levels.
It provides the mind and body with essential rejuvenation and helps in maintaining calmness. It regulates cortisol levels that are a direct cause of stress thereby ensuring optimal productivity.
How to Sleep Better When Stressed?
The above section of How to Relieve Your Stress provides a list of influences your sleep has on your stress level and thus your performance.
Having understood the importance of a good sleep cycle, we must now look at ways to improve sleep quality. It not only promotes relaxation but also gets you ready for tomorrow’s battles.
So let us dive straight into Relaxation Techniques For Sleep.
#1. A Consistent Sleep Schedule
Establishing a regular sleep schedule can b a difficult task but does wonders in the long run.
A regular sleep schedule requires you to go to bed and wake up at a fixed time every day, even on weekends. This regulates and sets the body clock to a certain fixed time and promotes a consistent sleep-wake cycle.
#2. Creating A Relaxing Bedtime Routine
A fixed routine helps to signal the body that it is time to wind and fall off to sleep. Establishing a particular pre-nap schedule helps in sleeping and waking up at the same time.
This schedule can comprise – warm baths, relaxation exercises, reading, and listening to music. Avoid stimulating and stress full activities.
#3. Sleep Friendly Environment
Your sleep environment must be comfortable, quiet, and relaxed. This includes eliminating all noise, and cutting off light. Comfortable surroundings help in falling asleep better.
#4. Avoid Stimulants
Harsh stimulants like coffee, alcohol, etc interfere with sleep. Calming herbal teas and soothing music help to improve sleep quality.
#5. Regular Exercising
Regular physical activities help the body to drain energy. It makes the body crave quality resting time. It is advisable to complete your exercise regime a few hours before sleep.
Sleeping a few hours after working out enhances the quality of sleep.
#6. Watch what you eat
Eating heavy and spicy meals right before sleep reduces the chances of deep sleep.
The stomach feels heavy and the brain finds it difficult to slide into a comfortable sleep. Excessive fluid intake further makes the bladder laden and makes it difficult to sleep.
#7. Say No To Gadgets
Try to create a low-tech zone right before going to bed. Limiting exposure to electronic devices, especially an hour before bed, improves sleep quality. Engaging in calming activities helps relax your mind and you sleep better.
The above-mentioned steps are a few efforts one can take to make their sleep experience better.
A good night’s sleep is elemental in deciding your energy level on the day after. Thus creating a sleep conducive environment not only enhances sleep time but its quality.
A consistent sleep schedule helps the body to establish its biological clock and signal the brain when to sleep. Calming activities while going off to sleep also helps enhance the sleep environment.
You can also read about Ways to boost Melatonin – a hormone that helps in getting good sleep.
Light music, reading a novel, and a calming bath can improve the quality of your sleep to a large extent.
Mental Exercises for Sleep
The above tips are ways to create a healthy sleep environment that help you to fall asleep better and faster. However, there could be days more difficult than others.
It could be an argument or a promotion or an accident that could take away the relaxation from your regular sleep environment. It is on these days that comfortable sleeping becomes a nightmare.
This section of How to Relieve Your Stress provides you with ways to sleep better on these overtly stressful days. Let us get to know these easy and quick ways to relieve stress through mental exercises.
#1. Controlled Breathing
Using your mind to control the frequency of your breath is actually a way to enhance your sleep quality. It slows the pace of the heart and relaxes the body.
It reduces anxiety and helps you to fall asleep faster. The 4-7-8 method is the most common and effective way to control your breath and sleep better.
#2. Visualization
As per studies, visualization or imagery distraction is a great method to distract your mind from all the stress.
Picturing a calming scene, visualizing your body relaxing or imagining yourself falling asleep are great ways to keep your mind away from stress.
#3. Progressive Muscle Relaxation
This process involves tensing your muscles first and then releasing the tension. It might not seem to be the best method but when practiced in a control way, it makes sleeping easier.
Nidra Yoga is another muscle-relaxing technique that helps the body to slide into sleep faster.
#4. Self Hypnosis
It counts as a meditative practice that gives you an opportunity to analyze your strengths and weaknesses.
You can identify your lacunas and give yourself suggestions. This technique not only helps you fall asleep faster but also makes life better.
There may be times when even the most comfortable sleep environment might not be able to trigger the sleep clock. The above techniques come in handy in these times, allowing the brain to keep all stress at bay.
Controlled breathing and visualization help in tiring the brain so it can fall asleep. PMR technique can occupy the brain in a way that stress has to vacate its spot.
Likewise self-hypnosis not only ensures quality sleep but also is a way of self-introspection. These relaxation techniques for sleep ensure that your day filled with hustle ends in a good night’s sleep.
Other than that you can also go for the Noocube Sleep Upgrade – the best sleep aid supplement trending among the people.
Nope… it doesn’t come with any kind of side effects as the Noocube Sleep Upgrade formula is absolutely free from any kind of stimulants.
Conclusion
Hence these are all strategies of How to Relieve Your Stress that empower the individual to take control over their sleep pattern. This promotes a feeling of satisfaction and relieves the stressed brain.
A good sleep makes you equipped for the day’s challenges and also improves your productivity. With the above guidelines, help yourself create a comfortable zone and sleep your heart out.
Remember, a well-rested mind and body is the only way to take you through life.
