#45 - Reacting to Stress (When Trying to Fall Asleep)

Like yourself, this week was a juggling act whilst riding a rollercoaster:

It was great to see my 3 Honours students submit their research theses after a challenging year (I’m sure we’ll tell you more about those studies in future)
We’re in a transition phase where we now examine 9,000 word Honours theses + we need to read a couple of hundred applications for people who wish to begin training as a psychologist in 2021.
I got to present a webinar on our research looking at the link between screens and sleep to 40+ South Korean students (gotta love technology)
And I’ve had to close my books for seeing new clients because I’m maxed out - just to name a few.

But it was one thing a client said that stood out this week.

His goal is to make the transition from going to bed to falling asleep better.

He’s actually done a lot of great work in this area. But the one thing left to work on is dampening the rumination that occurs when trying to fall asleep.

You know, thinking about …

… what happened today that you didn’t like, or even something that happened last week or last year (to learn more, read our previous blog here).

When this happens to him, he reacts a lot to it - and goes from being relaxed to wide awake.

And that’s exactly what happened to me in the past week.

Yes, that’s correct. Some of us sleep experts might not sleep well (and not all of us will admit it). The key difference is we don’t worry about it. In fact, I learned something from it.

For me, I didn’t react and become alert to a single thought or concern.

Instead, there was a ‘stacking’ of numerous thoughts. And the sheer volume of ‘everything I have to do.

Each one did not concern me - but the pile of thoughts eventually got so big, it was clear that I was wide awake and would have trouble getting back to sleep.

The Threshold

Imagine a book shelf that extends to your ceiling, and on the very top shelf is a book titled “Wide Awake AF!”

That book is so high, that you’d need a single tall ladder to reach it.

Well, that really tall ladder is what my client has. His large ‘reaction to stress’ means he’s able to climb right out of relaxing place - and into the realm of wide awake in a single bound.

For me, I never bought a tall ladder. I got a whole bunch of stackable steps (10 for the price of 1).

And now it’s about time i got to the point …

Experiencing insomnia means the addition of:

Pre-disposing factors (ie, our reactions to stress)
Precipitating factors (eg, a stressful event)
Perpetuating factors (eg, our own thoughts and behaviours)

My client has developed a big Pre-disposing factor named ‘stress reactivity’. Compared to me, he is closer to reaching the threshold of insomnia than I am.

If we experienced the same stressful event, it means he is more likely to experience insomnia.

But the other night, I had a big Perpetuating factor named "‘catastrophic worry”. That stacking of ‘what to dos’ pushed me above the threshold and I had a night of insomnia.

When we do sleep therapy, we mainly work on the Perpetuating factors (ie, changing people’s sleep behaviours, and helping them strike a better balance between unhelpful and helpful thinking).

This might explain why I did not necessarily experience insomnia since that bad night’s sleep. I problem solved my way out of experiencing that catastrophic worry.

Yet, dealing with stress reactions can take more time.

It means practicing to bring one’s general levels of stress down.

To use an analogy, when people attempt to lose weight, certain parts of their body will lose weight first, and then there will be some final areas that stubbornly take a bit longer to change.

Importantly, we can change aspects of our physiology.

It takes time. It takes practice. It takes commitment.

And sometimes it takes a lifestyle change.

The beautiful thing is that it is possible.

If you wish to read more about the role of stress and insomnia (and even links with perfectionism), we’ve published a new study this week that is free to download direct from the publisher for the next few weeks *

So What Can We Do About It?

We really need to identify areas of our lives that create stress for us.
Then we need to rank these - as some of our stress reactions will be easier to change than others.
We then need to research effective ways to deal with that stress.
I’m not talking researching via second-hand information - that is, reading a social media post (unless it is from someone who is a primary source of information on the topic - an expert). I cannot stress enough that learning how to interpret science is an important skill and it’s best to start with reading scientific review articles that can be searched through Google Scholar. And yes - scientists need to do a better job to make our science more translatable to the public.
Beginning with scientifically-backed low-intensity techniques (ie, simple to learn techniques that are short (eg, 5-10 minutes)) can be a great start. Some examples in the insomnia field are performing daily gratitude or a body scan.
Whilst these low-intensity techniques are happening in the background, use high-intensity techniques. This means professional assistance. There can be a few things you can do to find the right person:
- Are they a specialist (eg, if the issue is insomnia, does the health professional only work on sleep, or are they someone who deals with a lot of issues (ie, they’re a generalist).
- What is their estimated success rate? Ask this of them (ie, get their admin to pass on this question). If you don’t get an answer, then move on. To me, this might be an indicator that they do not evaluate their own practice.
- Do they publish research? This one isn’t essential, but it can mean you’ve found someone who can do that extra bit more to help you.
The low-intensity and high-intensity techniques usually address the Perpetuating factors - our behaviours and thoughts. This is a starting point in the overall scheme of things.
But it is the ongoing commitment and practice with these science-backed techniques that can eventually dampen those irritating Pre-disposing factors.

Think about what 5-10 min technique you can practice for the next 7 days. Challenge yourself to a mini-experiment. Set reminders or alarms on your phone.

Remember that we need to stand before we can walk. And we need to walk before we can run.