Sleep and Stress Relief – Solving the Stress Anxiety Insomnia Link Once and For All

Most people who seek out sleep and stress relief are taking the wrong approach. They are trying too hard, trying to do too much. This just makes the problem worse.

The most effective way to break the stress-anxiety-insomnia syndrome is to take it one step at a time.

Forget about getting all your problems solved at once so you can sleep better.

Sleep and Stress Relief – The Basic Foundation

If you know that worries about problems and other emotional issues are keeping you awake, you might think that the only way to cure your insomnia is to solve all your problems or get rid of all your stress (or both).

But this is a very ambitious goal, and not one to tackle when you are feeling tired, stressed out and exhausted. So I’m going to show you a simple method that will let you get some sleep… period.

Once you solve your chronic insomnia problem, you are in a much better place to solve your other life problems, well rested, energetic and focused.

This method can work with just about any emotion, whether anxiety, depression, fear, anger, frustration, or grief.

Sleep and Stress Relief Part 2 – Moving Your Stress, Worries, Anger and Anxiety to Daylight Hours

Let’s start with the most common stress-anxiety-insomnia example:

Worrying.

Not just any old worrying, but a very special type of worrying that I call Night Time Worrying. Let me explain.

Most of us who worry at night instead of sleep do so for one simple reason: We’re too busy or distracted to worry during the day.

At night, when it’s so nice and quiet and dark, our brains unleash all the tension we’ve accumulated during the day. That’s right, the worrying happens at night usually because it was pushed aside or ignored during the day. No wonder those seeking sleep and stress relief feel overwhelmed!

Chances are you’re very busy with daily activities, like working, interacting with people, eating meals, and doing the many, many tasks that you need to do each day.

There are so many immediate things that require your attention. You don’t have time to worry during the day… so you worry at night, when it’s quiet and still, and you’re just lying there with nothing to do with your brain.

The same applies to just about any other emotion in the stress-insomnia link. But for now, let’s continue with the worry example.

Now, you might think you’re doing plenty of worrying during the day.

But I would guess that if you do worry during the day, it’s only in short little spurts, or in between other activities, or maybe pushed into the background like a miserable form of elevator music.

That’s nothing like the stretch of pure leisure that comes when your head hits the pillow and the lights are off.

Sleep and Stress Relief Part 3 – The Real Problem with the Stress-Anxiety-Insomnia Connection

If your want real sleep and stress relief, you must understand this basic concept: The real problem with the stress-anxiety-insomnia connection is not the stress and the anxiety – it’s the insomnia part.

It’s the fact that your stress, anxiety and worries are spilling into your sleep time. This is the only problem you need to solve at this time. Once you do this, everything else will fall into place. There’s a secret hidden in this technique that I will reveal at the very end of this article.

Sleep and Stress Relief Part 4 – How to Stop the Night Time Worry Habit

OK, sounds good, but HOW do you break the endless stress-anxiety-insomnia link? HOW do you stop worrying at night?

First, let’s review what doesn’t work: telling yourself to not worry and stop being stressed out.

Have you ever tried to stop yourself from worrying just by TELLING yourself to stop?

Did it work? I don’t know about you, but it’s never helped me much. If you read the article on sleep anxiety, you’ll understand why.

The habit-forming part of your brain can only replace one habit with another habit. If you tell yourself to stop worrying, what will you put in the void left by not worrying?

Here’s what you do instead of telling yourself not to worry (which doesn’t work).

Sleep and Stress Relief Part 5 – Give Yourself a Stress-Anxiety-Worry Schedule

You decide to worry about your problems AT SPECIFIC TIMES DURING THE DAY instead of at night.

That means it’s essential to put aside a time of day, every day, just to worry and think about your problems.

By scheduling a specific time to worry, you are not saying it’s a good thing to worry.

Eventually, you will learn how to stop worrying and start solving your most pressing problems.

You will learn that even a very small step in the direction of a solution can help break the cycle. This is a huge step in your sleep and stress relief goal.

But for now, you only have to do one thing: write in your calendar a time and place to worry.

Try to make it roughly the same time each day. It won’t be easy to do this, at first. You’ll be looking for all kinds of excuses why you can’t make an appointment with yourself just to worry or stress out or fume, if it’s anger that’s the culprit.

But it works, so try it anyway!

Sleep and Stress Relief Part 6 – Give Yourself a Time Limit

How much time should you spend on your stress-anxiety-insomnia connection? Try for somewhere between 15 and 30 minutes to start. When your time runs out, you can then go on to other things.

Be careful not to schedule this time too close to bedtime. You should ideally set your worry time for the morning or afternoon, when you’re not hungry or distracted by other things.

You need to find a quiet place where you can concentrate. Bring pen and paper so you can write down notes.

If you need to schedule your worry time at work, try not to do it just before lunch. After lunch is OK, but during a 15-minute break is probably better.

Once you have done this, the next time you begin to worry at night when you want to sleep, tell yourself firmly that you will worry about whatever the problem is at 11:30 tomorrow morning, or 3:30 in the afternoon, or between 12:45 and 1:15. Make it very specific.

Sleep and Stress Relief Warning – You Must Be Firm With Your Brain

At first your brain will not adapt so quickly.

But if you keep it up, you’ll soon discover that making an appointment with worry DURING THE DAY will help ease your nighttime worry and stress.

You must be consistent and follow through, however. If you simply tell yourself you’ll worry at a certain time during the day, and then don’t follow through, your brain will know you’re not entirely committed to this schedule and will call your bluff.

That means back to worrying and the stress-anxiety-insomnia cycle once again. So be sure to follow through, and make this appointment.

Secret revealed: as promised, I will reveal the secret this part of the sleep and stress relief program works.

Once you begin to schedule your worry and stress time, you have taken the first crucial step to being in control. As you keep this up, you will realize that you are the one in charge, not your worries, problems and stress. Getting rid of worry, stress and anxiety — for good — is no longer a pipe dream. It’s for real!