Three Stress Management Techniques For Better Sleep

The holidays are right around the corner, and with them usually come a series of great things. Yet, sometimes, what should be merry and bright can be fraught with sleepless nights. From budgeting your family’s wish lists to busy end-of-the-year work deadlines, your anxiety surrounding the holidays can slowly build until it’s too much to bear. We at Tuft & Needle know how detrimental stress is to sleep, though, and we’re here to provide you some relief. As we approach the holiday season, read on for three stress management techniques to ensure you’re sleeping well no matter the time of the year.

Initiate a New Sleep Routine Activity

One of the best ways to reduce stress is to concentrate on something new. Many factors, from work to the winter blues, contribute to holiday stress. When they do, put your energy towards a new, calming activity—like bedtime yoga—to replace any anxious thoughts. Each night before bedtime, take 20 minutes to meditate about your day. Breathe deeply as you move through each exercise, and concentrate exclusively on how they make you feel. If yoga isn’t for you, find another calming activity that brings you joy. Take a bubble bath every night, and experiment with different bath bombs. Or, stream a new show—and only watch one episode a night before bed. Find a new, calming activity that will help you unwind while still maintaining your interest, so you can look forward to completing it each night. The more time spent calming your mind doing an activity you enjoy, the less you’ll worry about the stressful holiday season ahead.

Tune Out Your Stressors

When answering the question, “How to relieve stress,” it’s essential to remember comparison is the thief of joy—especially around the holiday season. It can be stressful seeing friends traveling, extravagant gifts being opened, or coworkers enjoying time off you don’t have. So, as the holidays approach, a great tip for stress management is to tune out your triggers. Think about the elements that stress you, and eliminate those distractions. If constant comparison causes you anxiety, log out of social media during the day. Likewise, if work-life balance is the cause, ponder ways to take the pressure off, like meal-prepping meals or scheduling time off. Create a space that makes you comfortable, and invest in aids like a white noise machine to fill the space of any disquiet thoughts. While it’s unhealthy to completely ignore your stressful feelings, by limiting your exposure to elements that trigger you, you can experience healthier feelings—and better sleep.

Schedule Time for Stress

Though seemingly counterintuitive, scheduling time to sit with your stressful thoughts is a great solution for how to deal with stress. Whether daily, weekly, or monthly, pencil in time to think about the current elements causing you stress. Create a list of the things weighing on you, and once your list is complete, brainstorm how you can alleviate your uneasy feelings. For example, if finances around the holidays are stressful, create a budget for the upcoming season. If work deadlines are looming, brainstorm to-do lists and ways to create more work-life balance. Stress is a normal emotion to feel, though it‘s unhealthy to experience it consistently. Instead of ignoring your stress, it can be helpful to confront it and create a plan for how to reduce it. Once your list is made and you know how to counteract your stress, you’ll leave your “stress session” feeling accomplished and prepared to tackle those feelings.

Sleep Stress-Free with Tuft & Needle

Coping with stress can feel impossible, especially when it’s affecting your sleep. So, whether you’re feeling stressed in April or December, create an environment that inspires you to relax and release the stress you’ve been building. The best ways to do that? Try new activities, decrease your stressors, schedule time to stress—and trust us at Tuft & Needle to do the rest. While you’re working on your inner wellness, trust us to create a stress-free environment on the outside. From waking under breezy linen sheets to sleeping on a cool, comfortable mattress, we at T&N take the stress out of sleeping—so you can always wake feeling refreshed.