In short, a relationship between a racing mind and sleepless nights is pretty clear. (Recent studies suggest that insomniacs may exhibit cognitive “stress dysregulation,” meaning their brains have issues effectively regulating stress). So there’s a good chance you’re not imagining that you sleep like crap when you’re stressed out, and vice versa, no matter which one is causing the other. It’s all a vicious cycle: Being stressed out can make it tough to get good quality sleep, and the less sleep you get, the more stressed you feel. There seems to be a connection between insomnia and elevated levels of cortisol, the stress hormone. Here’s some of the research behind your restless nights and what’s been shown to help.Īccording to research, chronic insomnia can take a toll on everything from your cognition (we’re talking difficulty concentrating, focusing, and remembering things) to your physical health (there seems to be a relationship between poor sleep and hypertension, for example), and emotional health (insomnia is a risk factor for anxiety and depression, and can also exacerbate those conditions if preexisting). To help me understand what I can actually do to help with my own sleep problems, I delved into the science of sleep. There isn’t a “cure” per se, but there are things you can do to try to manage it safely. The answer is not necessarily, but insomnia can be pretty fucking bad for your health and quality of life. Sometimes I’ll head right back into another cycle of insomnia, and sometimes I’ll go back to my normal sleep schedule with the next bout of severe insomnia months-sometimes years-away.Įvery time another period of insomnia happens it makes me wonder if the lack of sleep is making me careen faster towards my inevitable death. I’ll go for two months of severe sleep problems, trying everything under the sun, before my body decides it’s done keeping me awake. As a result, my sleep schedule meanders as all over the place as it damn well pleases. As a freelance writer I make my own schedule, so there’s nothing that acts as a functioning anchor to night or day. I should be either still sleeping or waking up to work, but instead I’m studying the swirling patterns inside my eyelids. It’s 5:30 in the morning and I still can’t sleep.
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