Stress and sleep

United States
March 13, 2009 9:27am CST
When I am really stressed out I have trouble going to sleep at night. My brain will keep me up thinking. Does stress effect you this way?
4 people like this
21 responses
@czafle (99)
13 Mar 09
im exactly like you but i'm getting better in terms of overcoming stress recently. i try to be positive and realistic. that way, im treating myself fairly. no matter what anyway, it will pass. you know what i mean. we just have to accept the fact that there are things which are totally beyond our control so let it happen!. especially when you're the perfectionist type, man we tend to be hard on ourselves most of the time. what i do is, i divert myself with other things instead. either i watch a comedy film or anything that's light so at least it would make me feel better. i would grab something that i really like to eat. and lastly i would drink milk and hit my sack. and while laying down, i wouldn't think about the things that's stressing me out. instead i think about good & happy memories :)
• Philippines
13 Mar 09
it always help greatly to be thinking of the good things going in our life once we hit the bed, czafle. it induces sleep and the dreams that enters the dream soon after dozing off, are happy ones. this will give us a restive sleep even if the sleep will just be a little too short. this formula always wakes me up to a new day, feeling much better and refreshed.
1 person likes this
• Philippines
13 Mar 09
perhaps i am always stressed out, moneymommy. i am suffering from insomnia for as long as i can remember. eversince as a child, i have this sleeping problem to cope with. the doctor advised me to be as restive as i could be at nights. even if i am not gone asleep, i can always pretend to be sleeping. it is most important to be able to have sufficient rest at nights. if i cannot free my mind from thoughts, it must be those happy moments. true enough, i always feel good enough in the mornings even is sleep eludes me. also, at most times, i have gone asleep without my knowing it. usually, i have good dreams this way. stress cause me headaches, nausea and body pains at almost unbearable levels. this is the reason why i always need therapeutic massage from time to time. try to learn doing those massages by yourself, friend. you can always treat yourself to light massages each night if you know how to do it. learn it by having somebody knowledgeable do it on you. observe how it is being done. then, slowly, do it upon yourself on the neck area and the shoulders to as far as you can reach at the back. you will find that this i s very relaxing. note also the liniments that he will be using on you. buy one of that. in the philippines, we have the virgin coconut oil, vicks vaporub and efficascent oil for htis purpose.
• United States
13 Mar 09
Sorry to hear you have been suffering so long with insomnia. Massages are very good for a restful nights sleep.
@derek_a (10874)
13 Mar 09
Yes, stress really can effect your sleeping patterns. I find the best way to deal with it is a form of meditation.... Just focus your mind on following the breathing in and out of your body and exclude all other thoughts. Concentrate on doing this as hard as you can. Every time another thought intrudes into your mind, cancel it out and continue to focus on your breathing. I have a link in my profile to further instructions on meditation. If you have other questions, please feel free to message me. With practice, it gets easier, and there is no need to be stressed out.. - Derek
1 person likes this
@dodo19 (47034)
• Beaconsfield, Quebec
13 Mar 09
Yes, stress certainly does affect my sleep. It's just that, when I'm stressed, I can help but think about things that I have to do, things that I didn't do but should have, or something like that.
1 person likes this
@savypat (20216)
• United States
13 Mar 09
Yes I often have this problem and I know it doesn't help worrying with the stress. Best thing I can do is get up and start writing lists of pro and cons, This gets if from my subconscious to the conscious mind. And then I can usually sleep.
• United States
13 Mar 09
Sounds like a good idea.
@maezee (42003)
• United States
13 Mar 09
I find that it doesn't even have to do with caffeine, too, as someone else mentioned. I have my last amount of coffee at work, at about 3pm, and after that, I drink only de-caf teas and juice, and I still have that problem. Definitely. Even when I'm not stressed, if I try to fall asleep, I'll most likely start thinking about what I have to do tomorrow, how much I have left in my checking account, and pretty much anything my mind can grasp it's control on. That's why, on most nights when I can't fall asleep, I just give up and come on myLot. . At least here I can express all that's going through my mind.
1 person likes this
@winterose (39887)
• Canada
18 Mar 09
that is quite common, it is very hard to sleep when we are stressed, i do the opposite I go and sleep more when that happens.
@coolchai (753)
• Philippines
13 Mar 09
im always stressed out. when im at work even at my own home. when i feel tired i want to go to sleep but when i lay down on my bed my brain is still functioning and it wont rest. maybe because im thinking too much especially now my husband is out of work dont know where to get extra income. its all too much for me.
1 person likes this
• United States
13 Mar 09
Yep, stress does horrible things to me. Insomnia is only one of them. It's terrible!
1 person likes this
@mz_Ira (1090)
• Philippines
14 Mar 09
yes it gives me sleepless night.. Or if not it gives me feel weak when i wake up.. its just one way or another.. It helps to talk to someone and let your frustrations out. I do it sometimes, i talk to my BF especially if thinking would keep me up all night.. I guess confiding to someone your close to is a big help..
@Shar19 (8231)
• United States
14 Mar 09
I can never sleep good when I'm stressed. I lay there in bed and worry over everything too much.
• United States
17 Mar 09
I'm actually the opposite. When I'm stressed and have the opportunity to sleep, my body shuts down automatically. It's very strange, almost like I'm blocking out the world. Luckily, this doesn't happen at work, or I would have a serious problem! In fact, at work, it is usually the opposite, stress makes me more productive. But at home, if I've been stressed or there is a lot of emotional turmoil going on, I tend to shut off and sleep very deeply.
@derry123 (610)
18 Mar 09
Yes I know what you mean some days its really hard to switch the brain off .. i try and go through the things in my mind and make a decision to finish off the next day .... it does not always work **
• United States
17 Mar 09
Yes, I am the exact same way....if I have a problem or a situation that I cant stop thinking about it will haunt me all night long and it will take me hours to fall asleep...and that is sad too because the lack of sleep doesnt make the situation any better... it just makes me more tired and more stressed in the long run.
@ElicBxn (63194)
• United States
14 Mar 09
actually, I tend to go to sleep when I am stressed to escape
@anetteh (3590)
• Sweden
13 Mar 09
I never get stressed out enough to have those problems. You see, I have come to the conclusion that there is no must do things every day, therefore, I never feel stressed to keep me awake in the evenings. I have no demands on my self, only the once that I need to have, like at work and other stuff. But home I do not have the demands that I have to do the dishes, or the cleaning or the laundry if I do not feel like it. I can do it later. I guess we have to come to that place in order to keep out from being that stressed that you can not go to sleep.
• Malaysia
14 Mar 09
A LOT DURING PAST TIME ~ till I got heart attack Jan. 15, 2008. My great weakness was I'm hard to believe and give trust to any people/third party. So, I did all things alone on my works including financial solution in my business world which caused me easily went to bed(exhausted) but hard to fall asleep. Now, I learned something from that lesson which is stress management.
@ANTIQUELADY (36440)
• United States
14 Mar 09
yes , it does. i have trouble sleeping every night. not much fun for sure.
@dlr297 (5409)
• United States
13 Mar 09
When this happens to me i either take a hot bath, soaking in the water seems to help, or i pick up a good book and start reading, that helps take my mind off whats bothering me and i usually can fall asleep.
• United States
13 Mar 09
Its funny cause I have the opposite reaction when Im stressed out. All I want to do is go to sleep and go to sleep I do. When I've had a really bad day at work and its made me really stressed out all I can think about is getting home and going to sleep. I'll go to bed extremly early, like 8:00 and wake up when its time for me to get ready for work. I sleep like a log. My dog gets mad at me cause I don't really play with him when I've had a day like that. Its so weird how everybody reacts so different to stress.