Losing Sleep to Holiday Stress? You're Not Alone

Mattress Advisor recently surveyed 1,000 adults about their sleep habits during the holiday season to determine what role stress plays in sleep loss this time of year. While the results aren't particularly surprising, they do make me wonder why we put ourselves through it every year.

Between shopping for gifts, attending holiday programs and parties, trying to carve out family time, baking, cleaning, decorating, wrapping the aforementioned gifts, traveling through busy airports or on dicey winter highways, (the list could go on indefinitely) stress is the additional unwanted holiday guest.

Here are some of the results from the Mattress Advisor survey:

64% of people sleep less than 8 hours per night.
Of that 64 % -- 32% only sleep 3 to 5 hours a night.
Financial stress over buying gifts accounts for 22% of sleep lost during the holidays. (Those getting the best sleep spend under $100 on holiday shopping. The more money people spend, the less sleep they get on average).
Family accounts for 39% of holiday sleep loss (hosting, visiting, being in your family's company).
People who sleep in hotels/Airbnbs, etc., for the holidays get better sleep compared to people sleeping at home or at an in-law's home.

They also offer 3 suggestions for better holiday season sleep:

Plan ahead - start doing everything sooner rather than later
Stick to your schedule - This can be difficult, if not impossible during the holidays, but try & make it your goal not to alter your eating, drinking, exercising and sleeping habits drastically.
Lose the idea of " the perfect holiday season" - I don't care who you are, where you live or how much money you have, things never, I repeat, never, go according to plan. So, give yourself and your family a break.
Take a nap! (Okay, I added that one).

Losing Sleep to Holiday Stress? You’re Not Alone