What to Do When Stress Keeps You Up at Night

Do you know what to do when stress keeps you up at night?

A lack of sleep can have adverse effects on your productivity, health, and relationships. Inadequate sleep has even been found to impair weight loss.

It’s annoying to think that the loud music your neighbor plays is what keeps you up until the wee hours of the morning. But when it’s you who is sabotaging your own chances to sleep and rest, it is somewhat more frustrating.

The fact is, stress-induced insomnia runs rampant these days because of hectic social schedules and mind-numbing responsibilities.

Instead of just going to bed to doze the night away, your mind goes haywire. You end up tense and anxious, thus overriding any ability to go into dreamland. And when you do get to sleep, it’s still a fitful kind of rest. You don’t wake up feeling refreshed, and instead go back to contemplating about what has been bothering you.

If this didn’t happen so often, it wouldn’t have been such an issue. If, however, it happens regularly or too often, then the whole thing makes sleeplessness s

Besides waking up cranky and tired, you also risk your health in the long run. A lack of sleep may effect your immune system and may cause you to become forgetful.

If that isn’t enough, your bodies metabolism will begin to slow resulting in weight gain or inability to lose weight.

What can you do to avoid this?

First, you need to get a handle on whatever issues you have.

Try to make a list of your priorities and tick off what has been done. Seeing that you have accomplished something immensely helps in reducing your stress level.

Moreover, the list will remind you that you are still in control of your life.

If you are still bothered by the number of things that you haven’t done yet, take the time to complete them at night. Instead of tossing and turning on your bed and forcing yourself to sleep when you know it is just not going to happen, use this time to do some work.

This may be your chance to shorten your list even further.

When you feel that you have finally done something worthwhile, help your body further by doing these time-tested methods:

1. Warm shower or bath before bed-This helps lower your body temperature, thus preparing you to get into the hibernation mode.

2. Try a little warm milk- If most parents have said this, then there must be some semblance of truth to it. Facts have proven that milk contains a certain acid called tryptophan. This is an amino acid that converts itself to serotonin, a chemical that makes you drowsy.

3. Exercise in the morning- As you work out, you release adrenaline which gives you energy to go through your daily activities. As the day progresses, this subsides, thus making you eventually tired.

4. Stop looking at the clock- This will only agitate you as you see time tick by.

Try dwelling on the issues in your life during the day and set them on the shelf during the night.

Sleep is what makes you function because this is your way of recharging your body with the energy it needs. You may not be aware of it, but you may be lengthening your life when you get into the habit of sleeping right.

If you plan to live a longer and healthier life, start making adequate sleep a priority in your long list of daily activities.