Stress: Sleeping disorders

Solving sleeping disorders created by Stress.  

Solutions:

1. Excercise.  regular exercise will help with stress relief and allow you to sleep better

2. Eating Healthy.  A healthy diet, low in sugar, caffeine, and alcohol consumption, can promote health and reduce stress.

3. Target the enemy.  Before you go to sleep, write down the issues that are keeping you awake, and a solution right next to it.

4. Do not allow the office to track you down.  After 6pm shut down or do not answer calls from work.  This activity raises stress level by making you constantly think about work and not disconnecting.

5. Do with less.  It is better to run your own small office, than be under the person who rules the world.  A recent poll of nearly 2,000 Americans reveals that 22 percent declined a promotion or refused to seek one because they thought the job would be too stressful.

6. Take a nap.  Breaking your day in half shows results in stress reduction.  Taking a 20min nap and disconnecting can help your stress levels.  But, do not take long naps since they can be counterproductive.

7. Laugh! Checking out comedy shows, movies, etc. can actually help you stress levels and thus resulting in a better night sleep.

8. Grow a small herb garden and put leaves under pillow before sleep.  Results show that smell of lavender have an increase in brain waves related to relaxation.

9. (women) Connect and reconnect.  Increasing and fortifying relationships can help reduce stress.

10. Forgive.  Anger with your past can trigger a cascade of stress hormones that can haunt you through the night. To prevent that effect, think about how you were hurt, your response, and how you feel right now. Then think about whether or not there’s anything in the background of the person who hurt you that explains what he or she did.

11. As you work on bringing your stressors under control, pay attention to the basic framework that sleep experts say will set your body’s circadian rhythms for nighttime sleep.

12. Delegate responsibility.  Often, having too many responsibilities can lead to

stress. Free up time and decrease stress by delegating responsibilities. (ties back to point 4)

13.  Ban TV or other electronics while sleeping.  Simply turn them off. Insomnia feeds on the minor details of modern life, like the soft blue glow from a cell phone, PDA, or digital clock resting on your bedside table. The short waves of blue light may interfere with sleep.

14. When you glance at the clock in the wee hours of the night, your sleep will suffer. You worry about how few hours are left before your busy day begins. Clock watchers should put their alarm in a drawer, under the bed, or turn it away from view. Tape it over with black tape, the LED lights will still show.

15. Experts say sleep and sex should be the only pastimes pursued in the bedroom. Don't balance the checkbook, talk on the phone, or watch TV. Everything about the room should be associated with rest and relaxation.

16. Go to sleep and wake up at about the same time every day -- including weekends. This routine will put your brain and body on a healthy sleep-wake cycle. In time, you'll be able to fall asleep quickly and sleep soundly through the night.

17. Avoid heavy foods and big meals late in the day; they tax the digestive system and make it hard to get high-quality sleep. Some people do well with a light evening snack of sleep-inducing foods. Complex carbs and dairy foods fill the bill, such as cereal with milk or crackers and cheese.

18.  Cut the caffeine intake.  

19. Although the tranquilizing effects of alcohol may make you sleepy at bedtime, beware -- after the initial effects wear off, alcohol actually causes more frequent awakenings at night and less restful sleep. Solution: Warm milk or chamomile tea are better beverage choices in the evening.

20. Starting two to three hours before bedtime, dim the lights around the house and put aside any work, arguments, or complicated decisions. It takes time to turn off the emotional and intellectual "noise" of the day. Lowering the lights signals your brain to produce melatonin, the hormone that brings on sleep.

21. A dripping faucet, a child's cough, or a barking dog can add up to big-time sleep loss. And parents may be hypersensitive to noises in the night long after after children outgrow the baby stage. Soothing "white noise" covers up bumps in the night. You can use a fan, an air-conditioner, or a white noise generator available in stores.

22. Nicotine is a stimulant, just like caffeine. Smoking can keep you from falling asleep and worsen insomnia.

23. A cat or dog's night moves can prevent you from settling into the deep sleep you crave. They can also bring fleas, fur, dander, and pollen to your bed, triggering sleep-wrecking allergies.

24. Try acupuncture. Acupuncture is often used in traditional Chinese medicine for the treatment of insomnia. The results of recent studies have shown acupuncture improved sleep quality in people with insomnia.

25. Meditation. Increased muscle tension and intrusive thoughts can interfere with sleep.

26. Chamomile is another commonly used herb for the treatment of insomnia.

27. Valerian root. Some studies have suggested that the root of valerian (Valeriana officinalis) helps with the onset of sleep and with sleep maintenance.

28. Use the evening hours for settling down, and slowly relax and go to sleep.

29.  Practice yoga - High levels of arousal associated with racing thoughts, worries, or rumination may delay sleep onset. Relaxation therapies such as yoga and deep abdominal breathing may be useful in initiating sleep.

30. Listen to soothing music

31. Take a melatonin supplement

32. Keep an anxiety workbook that has a "worry worksheet" where you can ‘park’ your worries while you sleep.

33. Take a warm shower right before bedtime to increase deep sleep as your body cools.

34. Take supplements of calcium & magnesium and potassium. Periods of stress can cause the body to deplete nutrients more quickly.

35. Vitamin C has been shown in research to reduce the effects of stress.

36. Fill your mind with thoughts of peace, courage, health, and hope. Keep a positive attitude.

37. Taking a hot bath and adding scented oils (Aromatherapy) before bed time also relaxes you and your body and should help you sleep better.

38. Learn to identify and monitor stressors. Come up with an organized plan for handling stressful situations. Be careful not to overgeneralize negative reactions to things.

39. Keep a list of the large and little hassles in your day versus the major stressful events in your life. This helps you focus on the fact that you’re keeping track of and managing those as well as you can.

40. Learn to set reasonable standards for yourself and others. Don’t expect

perfection.

41. Change aspects of a stressful situation that give you problems. Rearrange your schedule, have a problem-solving discussion with the bothersome person, organize your workspace, schedule some time for a break, take a brief walk or ask someone for help.

42. Improve your coping skills. Practice assertive communication and problem-solving. Find someone who successfully handles stress and imitate him/her.

43. Be aware of ‘negative scripts’ you replay about yourself and focus on reframing them more positively.

44. Sometimes insomnia is related to anxiety about insomnia. An initial period of stress may lead to sleeplessness, and then the sufferer begins to worry about lack of sleep, perpetuating the problem. In this case, it helps to restrict bedtime hours. If a person is sleeping only four hours a night, he can set bedtime hours of 3:00 am to 7:00 am, for instance. Within two to three weeks, he should be falling asleep more easily, because bedtime is no longer associated with tossing and turning. When he is sleeping more efficiently, he can increase the time in bed by fifteen minutes each night.

45.  Pain is another cause for lack of sleep.  To reduce this try to sleeping in a comfortable position, neck straight and relaxed.  Sleeping on a good mattress may help greatly.

46. (women) Menopause, menstruation, and pregnancy are some of the primary sources of sleep problems among women. Hot flashes, tender breasts, and frequent urination all interrupt regular sleep patterns. According to the National Sleep Foundation, approximately 40% of perimenopausal women (those who are in their menopausal transition years) have sleep problems.

47. Your daily routine affects how well you sleep. A sleep log can help you make those connections, says Stephanie Silberman, PhD, author of The Insomnia Workbook. Every day, record how much caffeine you drink, when and how much you exercise, what you eat, when you go to bed and wake up, and your total sleep time.

48. People doze off easier and sleep better when the room temperature is on the cooler side, according to Silberman. Set your thermostat to around 65 degrees or lower.

49. Take a stress reliever personality test.

50. Try a pair of comfy pajamas - like the kind you had when you were a kid and could sleep well.

51. Take your dog for a walk before bed.

52. If you need a bedtime snack, eat sleep-inducing foods. Complex carbs and dairy foods fill the bill, such as cereal with milk or crackers and cheese.

53. If possible, avoid shift-work.

54. Learn effective power napping techniques

55. Take a Free Online Learning: A Course in Low Stress Living

56. Practice Progressive Muscle Relaxation

57. Use ear plugs to dampen noise distractions.

58. Try a cooling mattress pad

59. If you and your sleeping partner have different tastes, look for mattresses with adjustable firmness on each side of the bed. Size matters too. "If you have a small bed, you can't get away from one another," says William C. Dement, MD, professor of psychiatry at Stanford University and author of The Promise of Sleep. "If they're restless, kicking you all night, or a loud snorer, that's awful."

60. Seek counselling or obtain a personal coach to help take prioritize and balance your life.

61. A very important component to stress relief is understanding your situation, seeing how your personality and habits may contribute to your overall stress level, and finding strategies to change what you can and bring less stress into your life.

62. View Relaxation art: Art, photos, and paintings, that provide visual exposure to natural settings and images can have a profound effect on stress levels in just about any environment. To look up at or even pass by a photo or piece of artwork that reminds us of our place in nature can actually lower our blood pressure and reduce tension in our muscles. When we cannot get away, photos and images of places that we would like to be allows us to go there mentally while unable to escape physically. Even if it is just a glimpse, it can change our focus for a moment that reduces our level of stress for that moment.

63. Find the cutest and cuddliest teddy bear and take it to bed with you every night.

64. Chew gum to reduce stress

65. Read poetry

66. Practice random acts of kindness

67. Sing lullabies to yourself

68. Have a loved one sing lullabies to you

69. Go on a farm vacation and earn an early night’s sleep

70. Learn some new jokes

71. Plan ahead for daylight savings time

72. Jump rope or hoola hoop before bed