Stress is an unfortunate fact of life. No matter how at ease you may be, at some point stress will creep up on you. While it’s perfectly natural, stress and anxiety before bed can take a serious toll on personal and professional life.
Feelings of stress trigger the body’s fight or flight response and comes with symptoms like an accelerated heart rate and rapid breathing. At night, these feelings can wreak havoc on sleep and range from restlessness to full-blown insomnia.
Thankfully, there are plenty of strategies for relieving stress when it’s time for bed. If you can’t seem to let go of work, school or personal concerns when you lay down at night, these methods can help relax the body and put your mind at ease.
Breathing exercises
Have you noticed a difference in your breathing patterns when stressed? When stress consumes the body, our breath tends to grow erratic and short. However, when relaxed, we breathe deeper, calming breaths.
Before bed, practicing exercises focused on the pace and depth of your breath can be a powerful aid in relaxing the body and the mind. There is a wide selection of breathing exercises to choose from, but a great starter is belly breathing. This method can be used to build up to more advanced exercises like 4-7-8 breathing and roll breathing.
Meditation
Another tool at the disposal of the stressed sleeper is mediation. There are a variety of approaches to mediation, but all can open the door to a full night of sleep.
Three common forms of meditation:
Mindfulness mediation focuses on bringing one’s attention and thoughts to the present. Mindfulness meditation keeps thoughts in the now and can help limit the mind’s ability to wander to stressful topics when it’s time for bed.
Loving-kindness mediation aims to cultivate feelings of understanding and compassion and cast out judgement. This form of mediation focuses on positive visualization techniques that deter negative nighttime thoughts.
Movement mediation is all about the body. This form of mediation can be practiced through light physical activity like yoga or walking. Obviously, movement mediation is not the best for late-night stress right before bed but making it part of your evening routine can allow you to wind down and calm down for the night.
There are plenty more forms of meditation if these don’t fit your needs, and many of these can be done at any time stress strikes throughout the night.
Developing a nighttime routine
While taking an active role in nighttime stress relief can be a fantastic way to wind down, getting your nighttime routine in order is a less technical approach that can help ensure a full eight hours.
From journaling to simply taking a warm shower, finding a nightly routine that works for you and encourages peaceful sleep is crucial.
Some methods include:
Avoiding blue light
Curbing caffeine intake, especially in the afternoon and evening
Cultivating a calm sleep environment
Spending time immediately before bed taking part in an activity you enjoy
Determining the cause of restless nights
Stress is a common sleep disruptor, but it may not be the cause of all those late nights. Ensuring you’re providing yourself with optimal sleeping conditions may reveal stress wasn’t the culprit.
Before you start panicking about high blood-pressure and anxiety, make sure you’re giving your body what it needs.
Getting into a rhythm that works best for you may take some trial and error in the beginning, but once you have it down you will be well on your way to better sleep and in-turn better mental health, higher productivity, and a more enriching personal life.
How Are Your Sleeping Conditions?
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If your lack of sleep is compromising your productivity and physical/mental health, it’s time for an upgrade. Our Wyoming King beds are perfect for those who feel claustrophobic while sleeping and need the space to stretch out and relax. <