Work and business can be an emotional rollercoaster. It’s filled with ups and downs, and for business owners, the work is with you wherever you go… Sometimes it even interrupts your sleep, writes health and wellbeing expert Vesna Hrsto.

How we choose to balance our emotions and boundaries will impact our business and quality of life. Work challenges are inevitable. It’s going to happen. You’ll have a deadline sooner than you thought or a project that’s taken longer than expected.

Occasionally, these stressors can be good, giving you the push you need, however, they shouldn’t be constant. Work stress isn’t about everything going right but rather keeping your head in the game when things get tough—not letting things play on your mind or visualising the worst-case scenario.

Our mind truly is the most important tool for our business. How we use it affects everything we do, so avoiding unnecessary overthinking is key to remaining at peak performance.

5 tips to prevent stress from ruining your sleep

Turn Off Notifications

When I talk to clients about their work and daily communications, the most common response is, “I feel like I have to respond”. Almost everyone I come across who is in business has struggled with this. However, being available for absolutely everything doesn’t make us productive, it makes us distracted.

If you have a CEO or boss who keeps texting after hours, create a firm boundary. This goes both ways. Allow yourself two hours before bed when you don’t check any notifications so you can truly wind down and put your mind at ease. 

Get It Out Of Your Head

For those who struggle with anxiety and stress, often getting things out of your head before you get into bed is exactly what you need. One fo my clients thought the best time to process and plan everything was at night when she lay in bed.

All that really did was keep her up for hours and hours. Instead, she wrote out a list of everything she had to tackle the next day and slept better than she had in years.

Remind Yourself, You Can Handle Whatever Comes Your Way

Most of the time we are our worst enemies, particularly for high achievers trying to overcome anxiety and imposter syndrome. When you feel like this or get stuck in a mental loop, you have to remind yourself that you’ve handled situations similar to this before, and you can do it again.

Being in this state of overthinking or anxiety can be the real problem, rather than what’s happening at work. If you feel it could be underlying anxiety, address it immediately.

Eat To Reduce Cortisol

As much as stress can feel like it’s overwhelming and out of our control, there is plenty within our control that we can eat to reduce the stress hormone cortisol. Look at what you can add to your diet: foods such as starchy vegetables, fruits, and wholegrains will help your body relax. Avoid refined carbohydrates, sugar and ultra-processed foods as this has the opposite effect.

If you wake in the middle of the night, have a few dried apricots handy as this will help to relax the stress response and put you back to sleep.

Create A Diet To Improve Sleep

Too much work stress during the day will impact our sleep. Stress hormones reduce melatonin, our sleep hormone. Eat well during the day to improve your night-time sleep: Don’t skip any meals, and avoid caffeine. Making healthy food choices is essential to repairing the imbalances that lead to chronic increased stress and anxiety.

Get organised and cook your meals at home and bring leftovers for lunch, and reduce takeaway foods or eating out. Studies have shown that fast food consumption and poor nutrition can lead to burnout, whereas eating healthy is protective. Limit sugar. Eating foods rich in sugar disrupts blood glucose levels, which causes our energy and mood to go up and down like a rollercoaster. Choose healthy snacks options that improve focus and performance

The Bottom Line Of Work Stress

Sleep is just one part of your well-being that you need to stay on top of your day and is a non-negotiable for peak performance.

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