How Stress Impacts Your Sleep and What to do About it

A classic side effect of a stressful day or event is that come bedtime, you’re battling with a mind that simply won’t turn off. This makes it harder to fall asleep quickly and may even cause you to wake multiple times throughout the night.

If this has been you, staring at the ceiling wishing desperately you were asleep, you know first-hand how frustrating it can be. So, what’s happening on a biological level to cause this situation? And what supplements for stress are available to start remedying it? First, let’s look at how your sleeping pattern normally works when not adversely affected by stress.

What Happens When We Sleep?

We all have an in-built body clock, called a circadian rhythm. This term is used to refer to the different physical and mental changes we cycle through each day, in response to the cycles of day (light) and night (dark).

When in balance, your body produces two primary hormones that govern this rhythm:

1. Cortisol is a stimulating hormone, which your body starts producing as the sun rises with the light prompting you to wake up and start your day. Peak levels of cortisol should occur in the morning, and then slowly start to drop off as the day heads into evening, leaving you ready to enter sleep.¹
2. Melatonin is a sleep-promoting hormone, which starts to be produced in response to the sun setting and darkness falling. Levels of melatonin should be highest at night, helping you sleep, and should drop off as cortisol starts to rise again come morning.¹

Illustrative diagram of circadian rhythm – Source: Getty Images

Our circadian rhythms were designed to have us starting the day awake and energised, and slowly start to feel sleepy and ready for bed come evening. It’s this cycle that allows us to live our days productively but also have a restorative sleep each night.

However, for many people, this natural rhythm can become disrupted, which can look like:

• Cortisol levels peaking later in the day, leaving you feeling tired in the morning, but wired and alert in the evening or
• Melatonin levels peaking lower or later, leading to poorer sleep quality or quantity, adding to that feeling of sluggishness in the morning.

One of the biggest triggers causing this imbalance is… you guessed it, stress.

How Does Stress Affect Sleep?

Stress evokes the fight or flight response via the sympathetic nervous system. This system produces the stress hormone adrenaline, and further increases cortisol production. Together, they stimulate the body, keeping it on high alert, primed and ready to fight or flee from the perceived stressor.

While useful when actually necessary, these high levels of stress hormones produced throughout the day can prevent your circadian rhythm from cycling properly, which can affect melatonin come nighttime with poor sleep as the result.

Best Supplements for Stress

If you feel your stress levels could be interrupting your circadian rhythm, leaving you unable to fall asleep and stay asleep, there are a number of herbs, nutrients and vitamins for stress:

1. Lavender: A herbal medicine well known for its calming influence at bedtime, lavender offers wonderful anxiolytic (anxiety reducing) and mild sedating effects.² If you struggle to fall asleep quickly, you could take a lavender-containing supplement such as NeuroCalm® Sleep 30 to 60 minutes before bed.
2. Passionflower: This herb works to increase the activity of your body’s main mood-soothing neurotransmitter Gamma-amino butyric acid (GABA),³ helping you to feel calm and collected as you wind down after a long day. Passionflower is found in NeuroCalm® to assist a healthy stress response in the day and in NeuroCalm® Sleep to support a restful sleep at night.
3. Zizyphus: Zizyphus is traditionally used in Chinese medicine to calm the mind, relieve sleeplessness and support a healthy stress response. This herb can be found in NeuroCalm® for a calming effect in the day and in NeuroCalm® Sleep to help you get to sleep and stay asleep longer.
4. Magnesium: Magnesium is a must-have nutrient when stressed and sleepless. Stress can deplete the body of magnesium and having low levels of magnesium can enhance the body’s susceptibility to stress, thus creating a vicious cycle.⁴ Magnesium is also required to produce the calming neurotransmitter GABA and the sleep-promoting hormone melatonin. Magnesium can be found in CalmX powder in combination with other important minerals and vitamins for stress, and in SleepX which helps restore the circadian rhythm and support healthy sleeping patterns.

What Else Can I do to Relieve Stress and Fall Asleep Quickly?

1. Mindfulness meditation: Read this article for some suggestions on how to create mindfulness practices. You could try doing this 30 to 60 minutes before wanting to go to bed, to support your cortisol and adrenaline dropping, and your melatonin levels rising.
2. Journaling: Journaling is a great technique to include in your bedtime routine, especially if you are feeling stressed. Writing down your thoughts, worries or to-do lists on paper can help clear your mind, so you can wind down and fall asleep much easier.

As feeling stressed is certainly a part of life at times, it’s up to each of us find what soothing and stress busting supplements and practices will calm the body and mind and ensure we’re still getting a good night’s sleep. If you suspect your circadian rhythm has become out of balance due to longer term stress, seek the support and guidance of a Healthcare Practitioner, who can work with you to holistically address your stress and support your sleep. Creating a nourishing plan to address your stress can then mean looking forward to that peaceful, sound slumber.

References:

1. Gamble KL, Berry R, Frank SJ, Young ME. Circadian clock control of endocrine factors. Nat Rev Endocrinol. 2014 Aug;10(8):466-75. doi: 10.1038/nrendo.2014.78.
2. Kasper S, Anghelescu I, Dienel A. Efficacy of orally administered Silexan in patients with anxiety-related restlessness and disturbed sleep–A randomized, placebo-controlled trial. Eur Neuropsychopharmacol. 2015;25(11):1960-7. doi: 10.1016/j.euroneuro.2015.07.024
3. Appel K, Rose T, Fiebich B, Kammler T, Hoffmann C, Weiss G. Modulation of the γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA) system by Passiflora incarnata L. Phytother Res. 2011 Jun;25(6):838-43. doi: 10.1002/ptr.3352
4. Pickering G et al. Magnesium status and stress: the vicious circle concept revisited. Nutrients. 2020;12(12):3672. doi: 10.3390/nu12123672