Struggling to Sleep? 7 Tips for Getting Good Sleep When Stress & Anxiety Keep You Awake

Ever notice how hard it is to get to sleep when you’re stressed? Or how anxiety seems to somehow become more active at night when it’s time to finally get some sleep? If you’ve ever noticed that stress and anxiety tend to become a bit more intense at night, it’s because they do.

There’s nothing different about nighttime anxiety than daytime anxiety, except for one small thing. There are fewer distractions at night. Which means the mind has plenty of time to ruminate on all kinds of things. One thought can race to another and another and another…until you find yourself going down the rabbit hole, wide awake with worry and angst.

You don’t have to continue to suffer sleepless night after sleepless night. There are plenty of ways to naturally get a good night’s sleep, even when anxious and stressed.

7 Tips for Restful Sleep When Stressed & Anxious

Getting a good night’s sleep when you’re stressed and anxious isn’t impossible, but it does take some time and patience. It all comes down to incorporating simple strategies into your life that can help relax, let go and surrender into a restful night’s sleep.

1. Stick To A Regular Sleep Schedule

The body’s sleep/wake cycle is governed by an internal 24-hour clock known as our circadian rhythm. It lets us know when it’s time to rest and sleep, as well as when it’s time to be alert.

“The key to our circadian rhythm is that it craves consistency” says Bill Fish, sleep expert and manager at the Sleep Foundation. “Because of this, we strongly recommend that you get to bed at close to the same time each night and wake each time in the morning.”

Whether your sleep schedule is non-existent or could use a little help, it’s important to know that you can train your body to fall asleep and wake up at roughly the same time each night and morning. Consider going to bed within a 30-minute timeframe each night, set the alarm for 8 hours, and wake up within the same 30-minute timeframe each morning.

While it won’t work overnight, you will gradually train your body to become accustomed to a sleep/wake schedule, ultimately finding its much easier to fall asleep at night, even if when stressed and anxious.

2. Create A Relaxing Evening Routine

You’ve likely developed a solid morning routine, but have you ever given much thought to creating a relaxing evening routine? Doing so could help you get to sleep, especially when you’re anxious or feeling stressed.

A relaxing evening routine will look different for everyone. It all depends on your own unique needs. The most important thing about an evening routine is that you give yourself time to let go of the day and simply relax a little in the hour or so leading up to your bedtime.

Maybe your evening routine means taking a warm bath or reading a book after you’ve put the kids to bed. Perhaps it’s meditation and some gentle yoga. Possibly it’s as simple as lighting a candle and listening to a lecture or audiobook.

Whatever your evening routine is, it’s important that you honor yourself by allowing yourself to unwind. Turn off the news. Don’t check your email. Stay off your phone. Stop scrolling social media. It doesn’t have to be all night, just an hour before bed. By making a relaxing evening routine part of your daily routine, you’ll find it’s a lot easier to get to sleep simply because you’re not taking your stress to sleep with you.

3. Make Your Bedroom A Sleep Sanctuary

Have you ever stopped to consider how much better you might sleep if your bedroom was a bit more inviting? One of the best things you can do to get better sleep when you’re stressed or anxious is by turning your bedroom into an inviting sleep haven that feels like a soothing sanctuary.

If you’re like most people, your bedroom might collect a lot of clutter. Whether this is clean clothes that have been piled up on the chair for a week, empty coffee cups on the bedside stand, books and magazines, your kid’s toys or the million other little things that can accumulate in the bedroom, do yourself a favor. Clear the clutter. Even if you think the clutter doesn’t make a difference, it does. And it can actually make you more stressed and anxious without you even realizing it is.

The goal is to make your bedroom inviting and relaxing. Make your bed every morning so it’s welcoming to get into at night. Keep your bedroom clean and consider getting blackout curtains to block out any light. Maintain a comfortable temperature in the bedroom that isn’t too hot or too cold.

You might think about investing in an essential oil diffuser. Aromatherapy is a wonderful way to really invite a sense of relaxation and tranquility into the bedroom. Lavender has long been considered a natural remedy for insomnia, with several studies demonstrating that lavender aroma can improve sleep quality.

Take a moment and visualize what the perfect sleep sanctuary might look like for you. Whatever you have to do to make your own bedroom reflect this image should then be incorporated into your life. You might take a weekend to make whatever changes you need to create an environment in your bedroom that lures you to sleep instead of continuing to count sheep.

4. Take A Warm Bath

A warm bath can work wonders to help you sleep, especially when you’re stressed and anxious. According to the Sleep Foundation, taking a warm bath in water between 104 and 108.5 degrees Fahrenheit can improve sleep quality. Research also indicates that taking a hot bath 1-3 hours before bed can help you fall asleep more quickly.

There’s just something super soothing about relaxing in a warm bath before bed. I personally soak in a hot tub at least three nights a week, most often with the addition of various oils and herbs.

5. Engage In Evening Meditation

You’ve likely heard about the benefits of meditation, but did you know meditating before bed might just help you sleep? There’s research to suggest that meditation influences sleep and its functions. For one, meditation help induce the relaxation response which helps with sleep initiation. Meditation practices are also suggested to increase melatonin levels and serotonin levels, both of which play a vital role in sleep quality.

The impact meditation has on stress is unprecedented and can help immensely to instill a sense of tranquil calm and peace at the end of the day before bed. Even meditating for as little as five minutes at night can really help you settle into a deeper state of stillness. It offers an awesome opportunity to let go of the day, allowing you to simply focus on the breath instead of the million little thoughts that keep your mind racing.

There are several meditation techniques to help relieve stress, all of which can be wonderful right before bed. Deep belly breathing (inhaling slowly for a count of four and feeling the belly expand, then exhaling for a count of eight feeling the belly contract) is one of our favorite ways to alleviate anxiety at night when lying in bed. Doing this for just 5-10 minutes is a game-changer for stress and has helped us get to sleep on several different occasions.

6. Limit Your Screen Time Before Bed

Did you know that almost 70% of people sleep with their smartphones? It’s easy enough. The majority of people use their phone as an alarm clock, and who doesn’t sit in bed at night scrolling social media or perusing the world wide web? Here’s the thing, though. Screen time at night can seriously disrupt your sleep.

We get it. Stress and anxiety tend to increase at night before bed, especially when the mind doesn’t have anything else to occupy its attention. What better way to turn off your brain than by picking up your phone and mindlessly scrolling away? The problem is, you’re not exactly turning your brain off when you’re scrolling through our phone. Looking at your phone actually stimulates the brain, ultimately keeping the mind more active and awake.

Then there’s the blue light emitted from the screen. Research has discovered that exposure to blue light suppresses the production of melatonin, a hormone released in the evening responsible for making you feel sleepy. When we use our phones at night it can trick the body into thinking its daytime, throwing our sleep/wake cycle off and keeping us awake when we should be getting ready to fall asleep.

Here's something else about using our phones before bed. We’re all familiar with seeing something on social media or the internet that makes us upset. When you’re already stressed and anxious, the last thing you need is more stress and anxiety on top of it. The emotions checking our phone can trigger (either positive or negative) can be really distracting, leaving you wide awake and feeling worse than before you got on your phone.

It's recommended to cut off your screen time about an hour before bed. This means smartphones, tablets, computers and television. Doing so will not only help you sleep better but will cut out any more unnecessary stress and anxiety that can make it hard to sleep.

7. Get Up If You End Up Lying Awake In Bed

If you find yourself lying in bed for more than 20 minutes and still can’t sleep, get up. While it might seem contradictory to getting a good night’s sleep, tossing and turning will do nothing for your sleep and can make you even more stressed and anxious.

Experts recommend that instead of spending too much time in bed struggling to fall asleep that you should get up and do something relaxing instead, whether this is reading a book, sipping on some herbal tea or listening to a podcast.

This concept is known as stimulus control, which is practiced to help break the negative conditioning connected to falling asleep at night. Once you’re up and begin to feel sleepy, return to bed and allow yourself another 20 minutes to fall asleep. If you find that you’re still awake, get up and repeat the process again.

Last Thoughts on Sleeping When You're Stressed

Although it can feel impossible to get to sleep on those nights where it feels like your mind just won’t stop, stress and anxiety don’t have to continue to steal your sleep.

By making a few adjustments to your regular sleep routine, you’ll soon find that sleep is something that comes naturally and you’re falling asleep and staying asleep every night of the week.

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