Managing money and making financial decisions is an around-the-clock job. But for many, the daily demands of money are flooding over into the night, sinking any chance of a peaceful sleep. 

This is especially true in the turmoil of the current climate. Endless headlines of job cuts, price hikes and stretched budgets have meant that when money’s on the mind, sleep certainly isn’t.

But it doesn’t need to be this way, and whatever your financial position is, money worries should never be taking precedence over your sleep or well-being. 

Feeling worried about money, paying the bills and making ends meet is set apart from other types of anxiety, namely because its impact is so heavy and detrimental to everyday living. 

Finances are one of the leading causes of stress and can expand into feelings of immense sadness, fear, anger, anxiety and in some cases, depression.

And what’s more, stress about money isn’t exclusive by gender, nationality or age, and it's expected to hit everyone at some point in their lives. 

It’s thought that as many as 72 per cent of people have experienced feeling this way because of money worries in the last year alone. 

These feelings can often seem inescapable, crushing in fact. So much so that finding any peace or joy in day-to-day life seems scarce, especially when it’s required for a restful and recuperated sleep. 

But here we underline the importance of good sleep in such a situation. It is indeed the power of a good night’s rest that will carry you forward both physically and mentally as you rearrange your ducks in a row; so to speak. 

When payment troubles run deep but the cash runs dry, sleep is usually the first domino to fall. But with good sleep, your chances of overcoming financial strain are significantly increased. 

Good, regular, restful sleep boosts your concentration, productivity and decision-making abilities. It helps you to think and navigate the world with your eyes wide open. A good decision is never made on a bad night’s sleep.

These life-affirming qualities will come of great use when faced with scaling money misery mountains. 

It’s just that with the sleep-snatching side effects of having money on the mind, feeling these benefits seems so far off.

Taking Back Your Sleep

There are lots of ways to retrieve your sleep (and sanity) from the clutches of financial stress, and today we’re going to tell you how to do it:

Time Slot For Worry

Worrying about money can have you feeling like you’re trapped in a cycle, one that’s active both day and night. Sometimes the only way to jump out of the cycle is to ignore the problem at the heart of its case, but this often only causes the problem itself to worsen.

Instead, try to allocate an amount of time each day when you can proactively address the most pressing issues in your situation; ideally before noon. 

During this period, concentrate only on what needs to be remedied and identify what you can do to turn the tide of financial woes on that day alone. 

Wrap up your concerns and to-dos when you wrap up your session, and address them again at the same time tomorrow. This way, you’ll be dedicated to solving your financial concerns during an allocated amount of time.

This solution is ideal for those who might tend to avoid their financial concerns or for those who might feel overwhelmed when trying to find a solution. It’s always easier to tackle these problems with smaller steps, and this approach will help minimise interruptions during the night. 

Workout to Work It Out

Tackling tricky money matters is a lot of stress, and as we’ve explored in some of our previous blogs, a lot of stress isn’t great for getting a lot of sleep. However, exercise can help to shift that stress through a chemical transaction in the body.

When the muscles get moving, the motion triggers a chain reaction in the brain that awakens its neurotransmitters called endorphins. These endorphins flood the bloodstream and circulatory system with the ‘feel good’ hormone, quickly alleviating feelings of stress, anxiety and sadness. 

What’s more, these benefits are accessible to anyone, and even exercise for 30 minutes a day will clear away the stress in time for a good night’s rest. 

Rewrite Your Pre-Bed Ritual

When under financial pressure, it isn’t easy to hop straight into bed and drift swiftly off to sleep. But the stress can be beaten so long as you keep to a sleep routine. 

It doesn’t need to be anything strenuous or complex and can be as simple as switching off devices an hour before bedtime, reading a book or slipping into more comfortable clothing.

The perfect nighttime routine is always supported by the best products, and our own routine always starts with the 3D Contoured Blackout Sleep Mask. This award-winning sleep mask not only submerges the body in darkness, perfect for encouraging the flow of the sleep hormone melatonin, but it also perfectly protects both natural lashes and extensions from any nighttime breakages. 

Taking these nighttime steps to prepare your body and mind for sleep will help your brain to differentiate between when it’s time to worry and when it's not. Setting boundaries will help limit the mental exposure of stress, and this is something a nighttime sleep routine does really well if kept to night after night. 

Track Spending

Financial burdens usually arise due to some sort of loss of control. This loss is of course highly dependent on the specific person and situation to which it applies, but once a hand is lost over finances, it can be very difficult to regain the strong grip you once had. 

Sleep is lost as a result of this because it’s the things that we can’t control that keep us up at night the most; the thoughts of uncertainty dangling peaceful sleep just out of reach. 

Using different services and platforms to track your incomings and outgoings will provide you with not only an invaluable insight into how you reached the point you’re currently at, but also a plan of action on how to get out of it. 

Knowledge is power when it comes to dealing with financial stress, and although there are lots of different options available out there, we’d really recommend getting in touch with either your bank or a financial advisor to see what solutions are best suited to you.

A problem shared is a problem halved, and proper money management goes a long way when managing a restful sleep cycle. 

Financial Help

Although many of the solutions for reclaiming lost sleep during times of financial stress are fairly tied together, the causes of financial stress can be astonishingly varied and wide-ranging.

Perhaps you’re stressed about saving, or you’re trying to buy a house. However the bills and stresses are piling up, it’s really super important to remember that certain situations require a certain kind of strategy. 

Taking what we’ve learnt throughout the ins and outs of this discussion, we advise anyone whose financial burdens are taking a toll on their physical and mental well-being to seek out the advice of a money management professional. 

There are lots of different organisations and services to turn to who resolve these situations every single day, and they’ll have you back on your feet in no time.

Don’t let your financial stresses turn into a nightmare when restless nights are followed by equally as dismal days. Divide your time wisely and create a plan for how you use it in the lead-up to bedtime. Remember to sweat out the stress, and keep your eyes on where you’re going if you want to keep your eyes shut during sleep. And lastly, never ever feel like you can’t ask for help.  

Discover the more sensational side of sleep, with more tips and techniques here. 

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