How to Fall Asleep When You’re Experiencing High Levels of Stress & Mild Anxiety.

Create a regular sleep and wind-down ‘bedtime’ routine 

Creating a wind-down routine that relaxes you is crucial when it comes to getting a restful night’s sleep. These are activities that you perform 30 – 60 minutes before bed every night. Calming activities such as listening to an audible book, a bath or even sleep yoga are some ways to help you relax before bed. This is paired with chamomile tea and some sleep remedy and you’ll be feeling snug as a bug, calm and ready to drift into a restful night’s sleep.

Exercise regularly during the day

Not only is regular exercise proven to decrease feelings of stress and mild anxiety, but it will also improve the quality of your sleep. That’s right, just 30 minutes of light aerobic exercise each day will help contribute to a more restful night’s sleep. In fact, regular exercise encourages a longer duration of deep sleep for most people. This is known as the most restorative sleep phase, which is proven to help to boost immune function and cardiac health. (Brues, 2017). Improved sleep quality means more energy during the day, it’s a cycle that just keeps on giving. Although exercise is highly recommended, late-night exercise 1-2 hours before bed should be avoided, as this is more likely to disrupt your sleep. But if you can manage to exercise earlier in your day, you’ll be certain to see a positive influence on your sleep.

Turn off the screens early

We know it can be tempting to binge your favourite Netflix series at night… But believe it or not, screens are not helping you get to sleep. In fact, screens are disrupting the quality of your sleep. Melatonin is a sleep hormone that is produced in response to darkness. We need melatonin to help us sleep, but blue light from our devices suppresses the production of this hormone. This means that our body will struggle to regulate itself properly. By avoiding screens at night, you will increase your melatonin production and will have a much more restful night’s sleep.  

Write down your worries and feelings

Putting pen to paper can be extremely therapeutic. A brain dump of your worries and fears is a great way to acknowledge your feelings, to help put thoughts to bed, literally. If you’re somebody who suffers from worrying thoughts, then this is definitely a great nightly activity for you to practise. By writing down the things that you’re grateful for – you put yourself in a positive frame of mind and relieve feelings of stress and worry. The positive self-talk that is induced by this practice is very calming and will positively influence you in many ways.

Read a good book

Getting lost in a story written by your favourite author is the perfect way to unwind before bed. By no longer thinking of your worries, you can instead let go and focus on the task at hand. Reading is a cognitive exercise that strengthens the mind and it’s also a natural stress reliever. So jump into bed, reach for your sleep spray and read until you slowly drift into a night of restfulness

So there you have it, our top five tips on how to fall asleep when you’re experiencing high levels of stress & mild anxiety. We really hope we’ve helped this give you some ideas and to help you along your sleep journey. Please visit Rest&Quiet to view our ranges & If you have any more inquiries about how we can help you. 

References 

Dr. Brues, M. (2017). The Benefits of Excercise For Sleep. The Sleep Doctor. https://thesleepdoctor.com/2017/05/22/benefits-exercise-sleep/