One of the symptoms of a burnout is poor sleep. Not surprising, because poor sleep due to stress is a sleep problem. More than half of the people in wealthy countries suffer from this at some point. Not bad, but when you sleep badly due to stress, there is a chance that you will experience even more stress the next day. Before you know it, you’re staring at the ceiling for nights on end, you’re getting less and less sleep or you’re waking up more often and earlier. Which causes you to build up more and more stress. Prevent bad sleep with these tips and your stress level will also drop.

The influence of stress on your sleep quality

By nature, your autonomic, unconscious, nervous system has two modes. It ensures that, for example, your digestion, breathing and heartbeat work in the right way at the right times. It is either in ‘rest and digest’ mode, or in ‘fight or flight’ mode. Because in the face of danger, the choice is to run away or to fight, and that takes an enormous amount of energy. Your body then no longer has energy for your digestion. And after all that action, a well-deserved rest is also in order. But when we’re stressed, our nervous system stays in “fight or flight” mode. Result: your body does not want to sleep at all.

Can Stress Cause Insomnia?

The more often your nervous system is set to alert, to fight or flight, it slowly becomes a habit. The strength of emotions decreases and mentally it feels like you have everything under control. Because of the reserves you built up as a child, when you ate and slept well, you can live for months to years with a good portion of stress, without noticing anything. But if you run out of reserves, you have a problem. The button can no longer be moved to the other position and the stress causes you to suffer from insomnia .

Recognize the symptoms of stress and poor sleep

In terms of sleep, stress mainly manifests itself in not being able to fall asleep within half an hour , not waking up rested, waking up much too early and not being able to sleep well during the night. Your breathing is accelerated, and you are not breathing deeply through the belly breath. Your heart rate increases and your muscles tense. You can feel very rushed, and it is difficult to relax.

Four tips: what to do against poor sleep due to stress?


1. The worrying quarter

Many people lie awake because they worry. Why would you keep that to your bed? Do you notice that you want to worry? Write it down or make a note on your phone, save for later. Every day at a fixed time, for example after dinner, you grab your notes, and you can worry for fifteen minutes. Feel free to make notes. And after fifteen minutes you let it go, tomorrow is another day. Of course, you can always worry shorter.

2. Work towards your sleep

Your head needs about an hour and a half to relax. Ideal for a beautiful evening ritual. Turn off your screens and take another short walk. Take a relaxing shower, do some yoga or meditation. Do the same thing every night and make sure you relax so you fall asleep like a baby.

3. Use a weighted blanket

When your nervous system reacts too sensitively, such as with chronic stress, a weighted blanket helps to relax it. The pressure that the blanket gives create a feeling of safety and security.

4. Invest in a good mattress

You can only sleep well on a good mattress. A Morningstar Sleeps mattress perfectly meets almost everyone’s sleeping needs and offers support where you need it. Use the easy chat function on the website and feel free to ask a question to find out more about what kind of mattress suits you.