6 Things to Do When You're So Stressed You Have Trouble Sleeping

Is stress keeping you awake at night? It may be your pounding heart. Or perhaps your thoughts are racing through your head. No matter. You're tossing and turning, and it doesn't help that you know that come morning, things are going to be even worse if you won't get any sleep. What to do?

Stress can cause a range of physical and emotional symptoms, but one of the most insidious effects of stress is its tendency to rob your sleep. The reason that's so bad is that we simply cannot function without sleep, and if we're already stressed, the kind of diminished performance that results from a sleepless night, or an entire string of them, will make things worse.

Of course, there's nothing worse for helping you go to sleep as pressure. Worries about what will happen if you can't sleep will ensure you'll stay wide awake. So what can you do instead?

Sure, there's prescription medication, and that may end up being one of the options, but there are a range of other possibilities that you can try. In fact, you should try several - at once. The same layering approach that works when we're cold - add a jacket over a sweater, and then wrap a woolen blanket around it - also works well with helping you go to sleep.

Here's a menu of ingredients - the nice thing about them is that you can combine them any way you want, and even safely use all of them:

1) A journal by your bedside

Use it to write your worries so they won't keep you awake lest you forget them.

2) Aromatherapy

Lavender or jasmine work alone or together, and there are more powerful combinations available online or from your local health food store.

3) Music

Seriously. there are a number of CDs designed to put you to sleep. Steven Halpern's Sleep Soundly is a good one. You can also use a hypnosis audio - they're very relaxing. The best thing: It doesn't even have to be about sleep to work.

4) Herbs

Herbal remedies work well - in the form of tea or herbal pills, especially in combinations including valerian, hops, and possibly passion flower.

5) A hot bath

Take that bath about an hour before you plan to go to sleep. It's very relaxing. Experiment with the timing to see what works best for you. For some people it works even better just about before they go to sleep, especially if it's not too hot.

6) Socks

Socks, a dark room at a comfortable temperature, and a comfortable bed. What do they have in common? They're all creature comforts and serve to ensure that you're not kept awake by annoying distractions.