Often, due to stress or worries, it is difficult to get a good night's sleep, and this leads to general discomfort for the rest of the day. Lack of sleep can cause fatigue, poor performance, social discomfort or low moodSleep disorders, more specifically insomnia, appear in stressful situations and, if this anxiety does not diminish, it can become a chronic problem.
In this way, stress or anxiety become the main emotional factors related to the sleep problems: Worrying about something or thinking about the same problem for a long time hinders rest and delays sleep.
Just like Anxiety causes lack of sleepit can happen the other way around. The fatigue that appears when you sleep little causes that distress. In addition, insomnia can be responsible for the appearance of intrusive thoughts about the seriousness of a problem and increase concern and nervousness about it. How can we stop this situation?
Tips to avoid insomnia
- Avoid habits that prevent you from falling asleep
It is important not to drink caffeinated or stimulant beverages or alcohol hours before going to sleep. In addition, heavy dinners, smoking or doing very intense exercise shortly before going to sleep will make it difficult to fall asleep.
The hours before going to sleep, do activities that relax and do not require psychological stressTherefore, it is common to watch television, read or listen to music.
In addition, for avoid anxiety and stress, It is advisable perform relaxation exercises and breathing to improve the tranquility of your nervous system and facilitate calming down.
Some of the exercises are:
- Place one of your hands on your abdomen and the other between your chest and neck. This way you will feel diaphragmatic breathing.
- With your eyes closed, breathe deeply and feel the path the air takes through your body.
- Exhale slowly while counting from zero to five. This will allow you to feel the movements of your abdomen. This way, your body will be immersed in a relaxation process that will lead to deep sleep.
- Stimulus control therapy
People with insomnia tend to wake up late or take naps, so they do not maintain a stable sleep schedule. Therefore, if the time of waking is regulated and shortened and nap time is eliminated, what is called a 'sleep deficit' will occur. This deficit forces the brain centers responsible for sleep to reorganize and thus achieve deeper and more stable sleep.
- Don't spend more time than necessary in bed
To avoid insomnia, it is important to go to bed only during the established hours of sleep. If you spend a lot of time lying in bed while awake, it can become a habit that harms your sleep hours. Therefore, you should only go to bed when you feel sleepy and if you do not fall asleep within 10 or 15 minutes, get up and go back to sleep. relaxation and breathing exercises advised as many times as necessary.
Associate the bedroom and the bed with sleep: People with insomnia should not watch TV in bed or listen to the radio so as not to interfere with relaxation before going to sleep.
- Avoid negative thoughts
Thinking during the day about how you had trouble sleeping the night before can influence how you feel the next day. Excessive worry about your sleep instability can make the problem worse, rather than lessening it.
If the duration of insomnia is excessive and fatigue is greater, it is advisable to seek professional help to learn the keys necessary to solve the problem that disrupts your sleep. At we offer you our best online psychologists.