Improve Stress & Anxiety – Revitalised Healthcare

Improve Your Stress & Anxiety

It's a commonly overlooked way to improve your sleep.

Improve Stress & Anxiety

Why is this important?

Because lying in bed awake should not be your "norm".

Lying in bed awake.

It's not a nightmare. It's a reality for many people.

For the most part, this can be really helped when addressing many aspects of the reasons why you're awake.

Do you struggle to fall asleep?

Do you fall asleep ok but then wake again and struggle to fall asleep?

Are you part of the infamous "3AM club"?

There are many potential reasons for this. One of them is hormonal. Another is stress, and another is anxiety.

Stress & anxiety are amongst the two biggest reasons why people don’t sleep very well. And it doesn’t matter what the cause of the stress is, because the bodies physiological response is exactly the same.

So How Do You Improve Your Stress & Anxiety?

Firstly it takes you understanding that this may be the actual reason for your sleep loss.

As humans we think we have evolved over time to deal with stress.

It’s just that many people have a lot more stress in their lives today, when compared to times gone by. But our body’s response is still exactly the same as it was thousands of years ago.

And that exact response is this: During periods of high stress and anxiety your body releases a hormone called cortisol.

Cortisol is a natural hormone produced by the adrenal gland but too much of it does two primary things to prevent you from going to sleep.

1. The first thing is that elevated cortisol increases your blood sugar levels. Not ideal.

2. The second thing is that cortisol has an inverse effect on Melatonin. You need melatonin to rise to be able to get the "drive" to go to sleep.

So other than stress, what else increases cortisol?

All of the below increase cortisol. All of the below negatively influence your ability to sleep.

1. Chronic pain.
2. Inflammation.
3. Medications like steroids, Ritalin and some antidepressants.
4. Diet high in sugar.
5. Caffeine.
6. Alcohol.
7. Blue light at night.
8. And... strangely enough, exercise (too much of it anyway).

How do you reduce cortisol?

Stress (and therefore cortisol) is reduced in only a handful of ways.

1. Changing your internal dialog with mindfulness and meditation and perhaps therapy like CBT-I.
2. Changing dietary factors that cause an increase in cortisol.
3. Improving magnesium.
4. Changing or improving your exercise regime.
5. Changing and improving your mattress and environment.

Sometimes You Just Need A Chat.

We're here to help you. You can book an in person or online video call to help you with your unique situation. It's one of the best things you can do for your sleep.

Book A Functional Sleep Assessment