Undo your stress and sleep
17-11-2012
Sleep as we all know, is vital to our lives. Even one bad night of sleep can lead to a horrible day the next day, and if you are constantly having issues with falling or staying asleep then it can start to have long term serious physical and mental consequences which can range from obvious problems like irritability through to some seriously worrying symptoms like weight gain and even hallucinations.
There are numerous reasons why people struggle to fall or stay asleep but one that has gained increasing attention from the medical community is stress. There are two reasons that it has been put under the microscope, so to speak. The first is that for many years it was not widely acknowledge as a leading cause of insomnia. The second is that it is incredibly widespread, with some 65% of Americans reporting stress related insomnia at some point, and taken together these two facts have lead to a new focus on this area.
It turns out that an original stress reduction technique, called the 10-minute Tension Tamer, which involves mentally focusing on a serene and inviting place -- like the waves on a beach or a quiet lake surrounded by tall trees -- and slowly deep breathing, can help reduce perceived stress levels in most subjects, resulting in improved sleep quality, decreased sleep latency and improved fatigue.
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