What could be disturbing your sleep and causing you stress?

by Jerylyn Draker
co-author, Stress Out, show stress who's the boss

excerpt chapter: Get enough Sleep

       It is no secret that the everyday stress of life, work, family and other commitments can wear someone out. But what do you do when all you want to do is get some rest, but you can't fall asleep or stay asleep? According to a National Sleep survey, almost half (48 percent) of Americans report lying awake at night due to stress.

        I had trouble sleeping, not from my thoughts but from the constant ringing in my ears.  My doctor diagnosed it as tinnitus and offered me medication to lessen it. The medication not only didn’t work, I felt nauseous when I took it. I felt I was doomed to hear this disturbing noise every night. I tried white noise machines and soft music, but they couldn’t drown out the ringing in my ears. Some nights were worse than others. One night when I couldn’t sleep, I landed upon a medical show on TV and they were discussing tinnitus and some of the potential causes and habits that made it worse. Although the cause of mine has never been diagnosed, I took notes on some of the recommendations I heard from this show. 
     There was a great deal of comments made about the relationship of food and nutrition to the intensity of tinnitus. Amongst list of potential culprits, I recognized a few in my life. Caffeine was at the top of the list, and between my coffee and my diet cokes I always had something I was sipping on all day. Between my coffee and my diet coke, I was consuming a lot of caffeine every day. When I quit smoking, I substituted coffee and diet coke as my addiction and bandaid for stress. I was drinking a huge amount of fluids, but very little of it was plain water. Alcohol was another one listed by these doctors as a contributor to the existing problem, and on nights when I couldn’t sleep from the noise, I had a few drinks to help me sleep. Vitamin deficiency and especially B12 was also high on the list. Vitamins were something I took on a hit and miss basis. I made the decision to control these three things and see what would happen. 
     I didn’t believe I could do it all at once, so I made a schedule where I cut back a little more each day. I made little baggies of my daily vitamins and made sure B12 was among them and I switched to decaf coffee. I didn’t want to stop all my caffeine right away, so I after a few days I started to trade some of my diet cokes for soda with a squeeze of orange juice for sweetness and flavor.  I cut back my alcohol to having one occasionally and mostly only on weekends with friends over dinner. 
     It took me a few months to change my habits and eliminate the caffeine and some chemicals from my body, but now whether I’m stressed or not I sleep more peacefully with no ringing in my ears. 
     In talking with my friends, I discovered I wasn’t the only one with this problem, and when they made changes in their habits they also saw a difference in their ability to sleep better.

You can learn more about Jerylyn Draker in the Stress Out, show stress who’s the boss book
Proceeds from Stress Outs books can benefit your favorite charity

Bubbles

Remember the carefree days when you were a kid playing? One of many children’s favorite toys over the years has been bubbles.
   There are several mentions of children blowing bubbles, in stories and historical paintings, using ruggedly made devices.
   Prior to the 20th century, children discovered their mothers’ leftover washing soap was fun to use to blow bubbles.  In the early 1900’s bubbles gained popularity when they were first packaged and sold as a toy
    If you were a child of the 60’s you might remember bubbles as a symbol of peace and harmony.  The air was filled with bubbles as a symbol of peace and “flower power”, instead of war. Bubbles were one representation of the flower children during that time.
    Today, bubble solution is the best selling toy in the world!  Millionaires have been made from various bubble blowing devices and solutions. One man has made a career as the world’s largest bubble blower.
   Blowing bubbles require you to breathe deeply and you create something beautiful in your exhale with the bubbles.
  When I was a volunteer Guardian ad Litem with the Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA) for the Los Angeles Superior court, I spent much of my time in the children’s protective area with them as they waited anxiously for their individual time in the courtroom.  Part of my responsibility was to assist them in knowing that they were not to blame and feeling as safe as possible when they faced the judge. Most of the children were scared and several kept quietly to themselves, and others were crying. One particular day I took a small bottle of bubbles with me and sitting with the child I was responsible for, we took turns blowing bubbles.  In a matter of minutes we were surrounded by almost all of the other children and they wanted to blow bubbles too. We all shared in the bubble blowing fun and some of the tears were turned to laughter. Although the children still were fearful of the situation they were in, the moments they spent blowing bubbles and laughing relieved the stress in the room. Some of them actually walked to the courtroom with a smile on their face.   So keep a bottle of bubbles handy. Most toy stores still sell them for under a dollar. Surprise yourself, and maybe a few other people, by blowing a few bubbles the next time you feel stress. You might remember how fun this really is.
  If you don’t have any bubbles handy, you can pretend and still see some positive results. Hold your thumb and first finger as if you were holding a bubble blower. Blow over the top of these two fingers as if the bubble blower circle was there at the top of your fingers. For extra emphasis, you can close your eyes and visualize the bubbles floating away and popping the air.

excerpt from Stress Out, show stress who's the boss. #ISBN978-098152383
Available on Amazon

Copyright Self Investment Publishing, all rights reserved.
May only be reprinted with written permission.

You make a difference

Put down anything that may be a burden to you right now. Don't pick it up again until after you've rested a while.

A lecturer, when explaining stress management to an audience, raised a glass of water and asked, "How heavy is this glass of water?"

Answers called out ranged from 20g to 500g.

The lecturer replied, "The absolute weight doesn't matter.
It depends on how long you try to hold it.

If I hold it for a minute, it's not a problem..
If I hold it for an hour, I'll have an ache in my right arm...
If I hold it for a day, you'll have to call an ambulance...
In each case, it's the same weight, but the longer I hold it, the heavier it becomes!"

He continued...
"And that's the way it is with stress management.
If we carry our burdens all the time, sooner or later,
the burden will become increasingly heavy;
and we won't be able to carry on.

As with the glass of water,
you have to put it down for a while and rest before holding it again..
When we're refreshed, we can carry on with the burden.
So, before you return home tonight, put the burden of work down: don't carry it home. You can pick it up tomorrow.
Whatever burdens you're carrying now,
let them down for a moment if you can."

So, my friend, Put down anything that may be a burden to you right now. Don't pick it up again until after you've rested a while.

Getting organized - reduce stress!

Clearing away unwanted stuff, including too much paperwork, can help to clear your stress.       A few timesaving and management tips to assist you in your cleaning out and organizing process:       Start right away to create a new habit of being organized – it won’t happen on its own. √     Write a plan to include a list of what you will be organizing, i.e.: your desk, your cupboards, your closets, etc. √    Book specific time into your appointment calendar. Make your appointments with yourself a priority. √    To get on track, avoid promising yourself that you will do it all in one day. Most people will become overwhelmed and give up in the process. Instead spend a few minutes every day to sort, file and discard. Choose one location to clean and organize at a time, i.e.: closets, desk. TO HELP YOU GET YOUR WORKSPACE ORGANIZED      How many times have you looked for that same document or email, only to finally find it buried under several other pieces of paper, or lost in the maze of icons on your computer?  The stress of looking for it over and over can be eliminated by setting up and following a simple plan of organization. √    Keep printed documents in folders and binders for ease in finding. Create a filing system that works for you using hanging folders with plastic tabs (i.e., Pendaflex) for papers. Once you have created folders, they are available to immediately hold the paperwork you are working on as well as any related paperwork. 3 ring binders are also excellent for work in process and priority projects. In 3 ring binders you can have tabs to separate each project or idea. You can also use your 3 ring binder for only the most current and necessary information and file away all the other paperwork. √    In your computer, set up folders with the same topics and sections as your physical paper folders. Make one for each project, each client, and one for “work in progress”. Set up these same folders in your email dashboard, so everything is consistent and more easily located when you need it. √    When you must print a report or notes, set your print options to print the entire file location at the bottom of the page. This saves time hunting for the file on your computer and can prevent reprinting the same information over and again. √    Stop creating more paperwork. Scan necessary paperwork into your computer files and keep it there until you need a printed copy for immediate use. Only print reports when you need them in physical form. (The exception to this is legal documents where the original is essential. In those cases set up your filing system to keep them organized. ) √    When organizing and sorting through your papers and other items, ask yourself - when was the last time I used this or needed this? How important is it for me to keep? What is the worst that can happen if I get rid of it? If it is essential to keep, set up its perfect place to be and put it there now. √    Handle paper once – when you pick up a paper from your desk, or incoming mail – file it appropriately the first time. This way when you need it, it will be where you can find it without searching. √    Organize your emails.  If you don't need to read it now, move it from your inbox. Having less in your inbox to weed through will make it easier to know what you need to respond to and what can wait.       √    Create personal folders to organize your messages. These folders can be similar to the data folders you have crated as well as folders for your client’s, friends, family, hobbies, personal, work in progress and other specifics related to your career and personal life.  Keep these folders simple so you can efficiently use them and also find what you are looking for when you need it. √    Use your tools and action commands to instruct your incoming mail to automatically go to the folder of your choice. This way you can read them later when you have time. This would include hobby e-zines, sales fliers, product offers and some spam.  Your messages will still appear as unread, only they'll be in the folder you designated, so you can find the new ones when you click on that folder. √    In outlook and other email programs, when you leave your email folders list expanded, a number in parenthesis appears next to a folder indicating how many unread emails are in the folder.   When you respond to an email, move the original email and your sent message to the folder that you have created for those emails. If it something that required an additional response or effort, your work-in-progress folder might be appropriate.    CLICK FOR MORE TIPS....       "I threw out all the papers I had been keeping from websites I'd printed to read at some other time. I made a page on my desktop of "WebPages to Visit". On the page I put the name of the website, its URL, and a quick note of what the website has that I want to read. I got rid of hundreds of papers, and it feels great." ~Brad Smorther~       "I've always used the throw-everything-in-a-box-to-be sorted-later filing system for my receipts. so when it comes time to do my taxes, I spend hours sorting and trying to remember what some of the receipts were for. Now I'm spending a certain amount of time every day sorting last years receipts so I don't get burned out. At the same time, I made myself a spreadsheet to enter my new expenses and income every day so this year I can use this spreadsheet for my taxes. I set up a special filing box with folders for each category, and before the receipt goes in the file, it’s entered in the spreadsheet."  ~ Marcia Bearn ~       "I cleaned my closet. Anything that I haven't worn in a year was given to charity. I cleaned my desk of saved papers and anything that isn't tax or client related, I threw away. This feels like a breath of fresh air at my desk. I can find what I need now, because it’s not mixed with paperwork I no longer need." ~ Lisa Lorie ~ Read more about Stress Out books Buy a book - Benefit a Charity Read the book - find benefit for yourself Book Excerpt Stress Out™ Book: p. 199 Chapter Content Copyright  2009, Sumner M. Davenport Book Copyright, 2009, Self Investment Publishing Co.