“A poor night’s sleep makes your brain 30% more sensitive to stress.” Stress expert Elke Van Hoof on why sleep deprivation affects your stress (and how you can sleep better).
Why do you sometimes feel more exhausted after a night’s sleep than before? And how do you break the vicious cycle between stress and sleep deprivation? Stress and sleep influence each other. Stress expert Elke Van Hoof explains how unconscious interruptions of deep sleep disrupt your recovery and make you more sensitive to stimuli.
During deep sleep, your prefrontal cortex recharges and your fear center calms down, but with disrupted sleep, this process does not occur fully. You react more quickly with irritation, avoid difficult conversations, and reach for quick fixes. Elke shares her personal experience with insomnia and how she restored her sleep quality after two years without quick fixes.
