Why Stress and Insomnia are Closely Linked

by Nina

It really didn’t surprise me at all that at the beginning of the pandemic a lot of people started to complain about having insomnia. And it doesn’t surprise me now that many are still having problems sleeping these days. That’s because while there are other causes of insomnia, such as menopause, stress is one of the most powerful disrupters of sleep. In fact, stress and insomnia are so closely linked that insomnia is one often of the first signs that you’re stressed.

Today I’m going to explain exactly why that is so people with ongoing insomnia or even occasional insomnia will understand how helpful yoga stress management practices are for improving your sleep.

Basically your stress response evolved to keep you safe. So when something danger is happening—or even just something new and unusual—your nervous system makes your body ready to take action, such as fighting, running, or hiding, by increasing your heart rate, raising your blood pressure, and increasing your intake of oxygen, as well making other physical changes. It also makes your mind extra alert, causing racing thoughts to help you assess your current situation for potential threats and strong emotions, such as anger and fear, to prompt you to take action. And all of those changes, physical, mental, and emotional, are things that keep you awake! And staying awake when you’re in danger is a good thing, as you might imagine.

This all works really well when you’re actually facing danger, such as a fire, a flood, a war, or an incoming car. Your stress response can save your life. And later, after the immediate danger has passed, your stress levels will start to subside, you’ll be more relaxed, and your sleep will therefore improve.

However, this basic, primitive stress response coming from your reptilian brain can also cause two different sleep problems for us, the first is when you’re not actually in danger but you’re “stressed” and the second is when you’re experiencing chronic stress.

When You’re Not in Danger

The first problem is what happens to your sleep when your stress response is triggered when you’re not actually in danger. Your reptilian brain, which triggers your stress response, is very primitive. And it has no way to tell the difference between something that IS dangerous and something that FEELS dangerous.  So your stress response can be triggered when:

1. You’re worrying about the future. You’re not in actual danger, but your fantasies about dangerous or scary things that might happen can trigger your stress response. So then you’re losing sleep over something that not only isn’t happening now but is something that might not ever happen.

2. You’re remembering or reliving bad experiences from the past. Again, you’re not in actual danger at the moment, but your memories of frightening or infuriating experiences can trigger your stress response. So you’re losing sleep over things that have already happened and there is nothing you can do about in the middle of the night.

3. You’re thinking about something unpleasant or upsetting than isn’t personally dangerous. It could be something upsetting happening in another part of the world, such as a war or a famine, that concerns you but isn’t putting you in actual danger. It could one of life’s daily challenges that cause strong emotions for you but don’t actually put you at risk for death or injury, such as having a work deadline, needing to do your taxes, or facing conflicts with family or friends. And it could even be something fictional, such as a suspenseful, violent, or disturbing TV show or book, that you watched or read just before bed. All of these can trigger your stress response and put you on the alert, which means your ability to sleep can be affected.

I’m betting that all of you who have had insomnia have experienced lying awake in bed with racing thoughts and strong emotions about something that falls into one of those three categories. And in all three cases, there is absolutely no benefit to you from staying awake—in fact, quite the opposite.

This is where yoga comes in. Yoga can help because it provides techniques that you can use to inform your not-very-smart reptilian brain that you’re in safe circumstances and not actually in danger. For example, when you focus your attention on your breath instead of on the things you’re worrying about or remembering, your nervous system interprets that as meaning the danger is now over and it reduces your stress levels. But that’s just one example. See my posts Better Sleep Tips, Part 2 and Part 3  for are several different yoga techniques you can use to dial down your stress response while you’re in bed, either just after you get into bed or in the middle of the night.

If You Develop Chronic Stress

The second problem is what happens to your sleep if you develop chronic stress. Acute stress a short-lived reaction, and after you have dealt with the challenge you are facing, you return to a state of balance. Your nervous system reduces the levels of stress hormones in your body, slows your heart rate, decreases blood pressure, reduces oxygen intake, and so on. Your body can then recuperate from the stressful experience. As you return to a state of balance, your racing mind will slow down and you’ll feel calmer. All of this will improve your sleep.

On the other hand, chronic stress is constant and continues for a long period of time. Chronic stress is caused by a challenge that completely disrupts your life, day in and day out. Examples are job pressures, marriage or family problems, and financial or health problems. It can also be caused by traumatic situations and societal stressors, such as the pandemic we’re going still through or living under an oppressive government.

Although the stress you feel isn’t as intense as what you feel during an episode of acute stress, with chronic stress you never have a chance to return to a state of balance. People experiencing chronic stress have stress hormones regularly circulating in their blood.

Because your nervous system stays on the alert and ready for action, you’re in always in state called hypervigilance, where you are constantly on guard as if you were always preparing to face danger. And when you’re constantly on the alert like that, you have trouble falling asleep, staying asleep, or both because your not-very-smart reptilian brain thinks you need to be awake and on watch, and doesn’t realize that making giving you insomnia night after night is actually counterproductive.

That’s basically why chronic stress causes insomnia. And it’s also why I believe that practicing yoga for stress management on a regular basis is so beneficial for people with insomnia. To put it simply: Reducing chronic stress can improve your sleep. See my post Stress Management for When You’re Stressed for several ways different ways you can use yoga to reduce chronic stress and Better Sleep Tips, Part 4: Day to Night for suggestions about when to practice which stress management techniques.

 

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