All About Sleep And Stress – A Smartwatch Guide

Sleep and stress are important parts of life.

Ideally, we should all experience minimal stress and lots of sleep. But often we find ourselves feeling mighty stressed without a wink of rest. If you neglect these two crucial aspects, you might find yourself feeling less than 100% — not ideal for you or your body.

However, once you learn about how sleep and stress correlate, you’re well-equipped to take your physical and mental health into your hands. Plus, you can use a smartwatch or fitness wearable to make the job easier. 

Ready to find out more? Keep reading to learn more..

How Sleep And Stress Correlate

These days most smartwatches offer sleep and stress measuring tools. But many users don’t realize these two factors affect each other. This leaves smartwatch users with questions about how they can best look after their health.

Simply, sleep and stress are closely related because they share a bidirectional relationship. This essentially means that poor sleep causes stress, and lots of stress affects sleep quality. It’s a never ending cycle. 

Trying to sleep when you’re stressed can feel impossible. This is because stress causes decreases in REM rest, slow wave rest, and sleep efficiency. Additionally, adults who sleep less than eight hours per night experience the highest anxiety levels. 

The trick to feeling your best lies in creating a balance between healthy ZZZs and low anxiety levels. To tackle these problems, health experts recommend keeping regular sleep hours, exercising, embracing mindfulness, and decreasing caffeine intake. 

Did you know caffeine drunk in the morning still affects you in the evening? Experts at Duke have found that caffeine exaggerates stress and affects sleep, even when consumed in the AM. Something to think about if you’re monitoring your body’s levels!

Luckily, a smartwatch is just the thing to help you out on your journey to better health.

How A Smartwatch Can Help

Many are turning to smartwatches to tackle their stress and sleep dilemmas. In fact, some dedicated trackers have been watching their sleep cycles for over two years. However, you don’t need to wait this long to see results.

To start observing your personal evels, opt for a smartwatch with heart rate tracking, stress monitoring, sleep tracking, and exercise modes. These tools are essential for creating healthy habits. See the top ways to start improving your health.

• Set up sleep hygiene reminders. If your smartwatch allows it, set up notifications to remind you to catch some ZZZs.
• Track your movement. Tracking exercise makes you more likely to get active. This releases endorphins, reduces anxiety, and promotes deeper rest.
• Sleep tracking tools. If you wear a wearable at night, you can get real insights into the quality and duration of sleep.
• Guided breathing/Mindfulness. Smartwatches offer breathing and mindfulness exercises to calm your mind before bed or during stressful moments.
• Heart rate monitoring. Heart rate variability (HRV) can tell you how stressed you are by reading the time variation between heartbeats. 

Tackling Sleep And Stress With A Smartwatch – Conclusion

Getting good rest and monitoring your anxiety levels is one of the best ways to improve your overall health. But you don’t have to do it alone — a modern wearable can help you achieve your wellness goals via on-wrist tools. 
Want to get started? Read about the best sleep trackers in 2023 here.

Last Updated on April 4, 2023