With all the concerns about the coronavirus circulating, many people are finding themselves impacted by excess stress. Excess stress can be a problem even during our regular lives, but with a worldwide problem dominating the news and social media it can be hard to release the stress and get away from it in your usual way.

How Stress Affects Sleep

Stress does a lot of things to your body. It can cause low energy, decreased immune system function leading to increased colds and infections, and it can cause insomnia. Stress causes insomnia because the brain chemicals that cause you to sleep and the ones related to stress interfere with each other. 

The worst part of all of this is that once you can’t sleep, due to stress, your body keeps producing stress hormones making you feell even more stressed out and making it even harder to go to sleep. This problem creates a cycle that can adversely affect your mental and physical health.

Why You Need Sleep

Sleep is important because it helps our bodies to repair and restore itself. It boost the function of our immune system and helps our body and mind to function better. Often people fall into the trap of feeling as though they don’t have enough to sleep, especially when stressed out.

However, it is important to always try for seven to nine hours of rest per night to ensure that you stay at optimal health. Getting quality rest will also lessen any feelings of stress and anxiety that you may have.

How Meditation Reduces Stress

Meditation has a myriad of benefits to your body and mind. Two of these benefits are helping you to sleep better and stress less. Meditation helps you to stress less because it allows the brain to produce chemicals associated with the relaxation response.

The relaxation response is the opposite of fight or flight, which is the bodily response that causes you to feel stress. The influx of relaxation response chemicals from your brain reduces your stress levels and allows you to sleep more soundly.

Why You Should Meditate Before Bed

Meditation helps to not only reduce stress but is scientifically proven to improve sleep quality, help you fall asleep faster, and feel more refreshed upon awakening. While you can practice meditation at any time during your day, this infographic by SleePare outlines 10 easy bedtime meditations to help you stress less and sleep better tonight.