Stress and Insomnia

The Greatest Obstacle to Sleep - STRESS! (Part 2)

Dr. David W. Sparks

Part 2 of Stress and Insomnia: The Greatest Obstacle to Sleep discusses in depth, behavioral strategies that enable you to cure insomnia that is stress related. What is stress? It is a “state of mind” wherein you may be agitated or excited about past, current or future events in your life. While it may be important to be very mindful of these events, they should not consume you 24/7. Training the mind to deal strategically with a “state of mind” is something that has been done for centuries and we examine this topic here.

Behavioral scientists can help achieve the goal of stress reduction mind training, or you can learn how to do it informally on this web site. It works. If you wake up at night with wild thoughts racing around in your head, you can actually train your mind to put those thoughts aside for now and get back to sleep pretty easily. Use a combination of mindfulness, meaning focusing only on the moment, and repeating a comforting word, such as the word “warm” or “cozy”, or “soft”. It can work like a miracle. But, it may not just happen the first time. It takes practice. So that’s what mindfulness exercises are about. Clearing our heads of chatter that keeps us stressed, and awake in bed.

Here are some common tips for stress-busting. Look around and see how you can change or take control of any situation that's bothering you. This may take self-discipline, but self-discipline is better than the consequences of having stress. You might try to remove yourself from stressful situations. Give yourself a break, even if it's only for a little while.

Be realistic about the goals you set for yourself. Don't try to do too much. Try to simplify your life. Stop trying to do everything or be all things. Make a list of the things that are truly the most important. Prioritize and attend to these items. Have a conversation with yourself. Instead of angry or emotional reactions, which beget the same type of reactions from the people around you, try reasoned reactions. Talk to yourself. Practice giving answers to people who egg you on. Come up with ready responses to break the power of the one stressing you.

Here's something you can try and do and it's also featured in the action steps that are written in these articles. Work off stress with physical activity, whether it's walking running, playing sports, or whatever. Remember that a "runner's high" from the body's natural release of endorphins can be very calming. Be positive. Don't get down on yourself. As opposed to "that was the worst performance I've ever produced" in response to a bad meeting or lousy shot in golf, look at the overall day or score and say to yourself, not too bad in the whole.

Remember the importance of sleep in all of this! Stress causes insomnia and insomnia increases stress. Think about this situation in a different way. If you're worried about something in particular, or lots of things, there's really not a whole lot you can do about it during the hours that you should be sleeping. Recognize this and accept it. It's redundant to keep going over all of the things you need to do in the morning. Write them down and then forget about them. Once you achieve that step, then you can label stress as being nothing more than distractions or mind-chatter. In short, you can train your mind to focus on other subjects more relaxing subjects that can allow you to relax and go to sleep.

It takes work, but the work comes in the form of small, and easily achievable steps. Action Steps may appear to be baby-steps, but are really very important components of a much larger process of self-discovery. For most people, it’s just too difficult to make wholesale life changes. You may read a list of things to do in the doctor’s office, but putting them into practice is another matter. Where do you start? It’s much easier to make those necessary, life-restorative changes one day at a time. So here we go with Action Steps. Do take one day at a time, and take it to heart. Because no amount of green beans or tomatoes will do more for your heart and wellbeing than the simple exercises we will take you through. Remember, millions of people don’t sleep well. Only a fraction of them ever seek help. An even smaller number take the steps needed to get their lives back on track, and therefore, sleep better. You’re one of the lucky few that is, if you follow through.

In a few weeks we will be opening up a premium section in our web site entitled Actions Steps for Better Sleep and A Healthier Life. These steps incorporate some simple behavioral modification techniques to help solve your problems with insomnia along with some positive steps that you can take toward improving your wellness. We have some wonderful suggestions for diet and exercise. Think of this program as an "easy boot camp where you learn to go to war against insomnia". By the way, you can get this program for free with your purchase of one of my audiobooks entitled "Better Sleep in 7 Days".

Make sure you sign up in the Action Steps section and I will send you a sample of both the first day of Actions Steps for Better Sleep and A Healthier Life and Day 1 of The Better Sleep in 7 Days audiobook. We value your privacy and will not pass along your email address to anyone.

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