Getting a decent amount of shuteye isn’t always easy when you’ve been crazy-busy with social obligations or overloaded with work. But if you’re having chronic sleep problems, the culprit may be your troubled family relationships, says a new study.
Researchers from the University of Southern California the University of Michigan examined how interpersonal relationships can affect sleep habits. There are several different ways relationships can impact rest, PsychCentral reports:
For instance, people who spend the better part of their days with a spouse who is non-supportive or emotionally unavailable may not be able to properly express their feelings about things that happen in their day-to-day lives. Psychiatrists and psychologists report that individuals in this situation often suffer from anxiety or depression; either of these conditions can cause sleep interruptions and the inability to fall asleep.
More ways that others can affect your zzz’s include time restraints placed on you by your family, such as caring for a sick child, being a single parent forced to do all nighttime feedings solo, or watching over an elderly relative.
And even if you don’t live with a family member, having a disagreement with your mother-in-law, for example, can cause you to lose sleep.
To get better sleep, the article suggests taking the usual precautions, such as adopting a regular sleep schedule and turning off the television and gadgets at the same time each night — in addition to seeking out stress-relieving chats with friends or therapy if needed. But it also offers this advice: “Though the first course of action should always be to repair the relationship, it is sometimes best to simply accept things as they are.”
Hopefully that Zen attitude will carry you over into dreamland.
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