These Sleep Habits Can Cause Anxiety, Experts Say

Feeling on edge? Here are a few sleep habits that may be making your stress levels skyrocket.

Published December 1, 2015 09:33AM

Bad news, restless sleepers: your nightly session of disjointed z’s may be leading to more anxiety and stress during the day, according to a recent study. The small study looked at the effects of sleep deprivation on participants’ anxiety levels and found they were much higher after a sleepless night than a well-rested one. Feeling on edge? Here are a few sleep habits that may be making your stress levels skyrocket.

Hitting the snooze button: Not only is your snoozing habit disrupting your sleep cycle, but delaying getting out of bed can also cause you to rush through your morning — talk about stress. Try to forgo the snooze button and instead set your alarm for the time you have to get up. Free phone apps or fitness trackers that wake you up at the best point in your sleep cycle can help as well.
Going to sleep at different times: Constantly changing when you go to bed or wake up can be the cause of sleep deprivation, since you’re not preparing your body for sleep with a relaxing routine. Try to stick to the same bedtime and wake-up time no matter what the day in order to establish a nighttime routine that will help lull yourself into a restful sleep.
Not making sleep a priority: Some days, you wish there were endless hours in a day, but pulling all-nighters to catch up on your to-do list isn’t sustainable or healthy. Ensure you get at least seven hours of sleep every night by giving yourself a cutoff time when it comes to dealing with that stressful errand list in the evenings.

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