Stress and Sleep

Stress and sleep are among the top five health concerns of my current clients. The truth is, poor sleep quality and stress are inextricably linked and it can be tough to break the cycle.

Anxiety is one of the most common sleep disruptors. The pandemic certainly hasn’t helped - nor has family, work and financial stress. 

And if you don’t get enough quality sleep each night, your body is put under A LOT of stress.  Lack of quality sleep can compromise your hormone production and negatively affect the decision-making part of your brain. With a shrinking frontal lobe, your fight-or-flight amygdala is engaged, driving up your stress hormones and making you even more anxious! 

So how can we address this vicious cycle and get you to catch more Zzzs? 

Breathe to immediately get your stress under control

The 4-7-8 technique is my favorite tool in a pinch: breathe in through your nose for 4 counts, hold for 7 and exhale audibly out your mouth for 8, and repeat the cycle a few times. The practice stimulates your vagus nerve and kicks your “rest-and-digest” parasympathetic state into gear. Try it throughout the day AND before bedtime.

Movement

Are you moving your body enough during the week? It’s important to get your heart rate up, give your body the chance to expel energy and boost your endorphins (feel-good neurotransmitters).  So carve out just 15 - 20 minutes out of your day, and aim to exercise 3 to 4 times a week. There’s no need for fancy equipment!  Mix it up between a little cardio outside or HIIT exercises at home, and muscle-strengthening exercises on the yoga mat using your own body weight (Instagram and YouTube are treasure troves of doable, at-home exercise videos).

Ditch the screen

If possible, try to wrap up your work at least two to three hours before bedtime. Give your eyes and brain a rest from your computer and phone…both emit blue light, over-stimulate you and interrupt your circadian rhythm. Shifting your focus from work and other stressors to something soothing like music and reading will help you ease into sleep mode.

Develop a decompression practice

Whether it’s a simple guided meditation on a phone app, restorative yoga poses or journaling, build in just a few minutes into your day to allow your mind to shift from stress to an easy flow state. Make it an easily achievable practice that you can escape to when you need it. 

What else might be disrupting your sleep?

Booze

Drinking any kind of alcohol right before bed will mess with your sleep quality - it’ll suppress melatonin (sleepy hormone) in your body and you’ll get less REM sleep, which means it’ll affect your memory storage! If you’re going to have a drink, try to have your last glass two to three hours before bedtime.

Caffeine

One study found that consuming caffeine 6 hours before bedtime cut total sleep time by a whole hour! It can severely interfere with sleep for some people - especially if you have the CYP1A2 gene which is an indication that you don’t metabolize caffeine effectively. 23andMe or similar genetic testing kits can tell you if you have the gene. So limit your caffeine intake after 2pm!

Body temperature

If you’re the type to “run hot” at night, you want to create an optimal sleep setup where your bedroom and bedding both keep you cool at night, especially in the dead of summer.  The Chilipad technology is all the rage for those who struggle to keep cool and get a good night’s sleep. 

Junk food

Sugar and processed foods will up your blood sugar levels and only make you want to snack more into the night. They could also cause acid reflux which can keep you awake. Instead, eat whole foods (lots of organic veggies, fruit, quality proteins and whole grains) to stay nourished, satiated and keep your gut bacteria/stomach acid in balance (which will help prevent heartburn too).

Staying inside all day

It’s important to get some sun! Getting some sun exposure daily will boost your cortisol and serotonin (happy hormone) levels that later convert to melatonin in darkness to help you fall asleep. So try to get outside and bathe in those rays!

Inconsistency

It’s easy to get hooked on a tv show and want to binge watch through the night. But your natural circadian rhythm needs consistency in order to function properly. So aim to get to bed around the same time every night (10-11pm is the sweet spot) and wake up at the same every morning (6-7am).

The bottom line

Keep the stress-reduction tools in your pocket, limit the other factors that could mess with your sleep quality, get some sunlight and live according to your natural circadian rhythm!

Sleep well and stay healthy, friends.

xoxo

Yoko