The relationship between Sleep and Stress
I wrote recently about ‘rest and rest anxiety’, however, I have not written about sleep at all but I was compelled to do so after I attended a seminar recently. Of course I know sleep is relevant but I had not fully acknowledged how crucial it is and how much our sleep habits can impact upon our experiences of Stress.
A survey was conducted in Britain in 2012, and amongst other factors it considered what keeps us awake at night; thoughts, physical factors and the impact of poor sleep on health and well-being. Thousands of people across the nation took part in the survey and results can be seen here.
I recently went to a seminar at the Barbican about sleep and facilitator described how sleep can affect ‘the seven key areas relevant to human functionning’:
Physical Ability – how fit and physically healthy we are.
Emotional Stability – how effectively we reason and address concerns
Social Interactions – how we relate with others
Spiritual Presence – our internal sense of harmony and peace
Intellectual Capacity – our level of focus and concentration
Environmental Influence – how respectful we are of ourselves and our environment
Occupational Drive – how we strategise to succeed in our career
The facilitator Beatrix Schmidt highlighted some key actions that can help towards a good night’s sleep:
Assess your principles- put yourself first
Breathing techniques
De clutter your bedroom
You can find further information here: www.thesleepdeepmethod.com
What now?
How well we are able to prioritise our needs is strongly related to our ability to practice -self-leadership’. You can read more about this here.
Training: You can also attend upcoming self-leadership workshop where you can learn useful concepts and strategies to help you lead yourself towards better decisions and better health. See you there!