What Keeps You Awake At Night?

A Discovery Health study indicates that 80 percent of respondents do not get enough sleep.  Furthermore, the effects of sleep deprivation are much more profound than feeling a bit drowsy: memory loss, weight fluctuations, a weakened immune system and high blood pressure.  And the number one cause, according to sleep.com web site, is stress.

Some of those stressors, no doubt, are financial ones … unresolved issues which are costing you much more than money; they may well be robbing you of your health.

What keeps you awake at night?

•  Too much debt?  Do you have regrets about that super sized car loan?  Do you worry about how you will make your next payment?  Are you being hounded by debt collectors?  Do you sometimes choose between buying groceries or making your credit card payment?  Has a payday loan taken control of your life?

• No savings?  Do you wonder what you would do if you were laid off from your job?  Would a prolonged illness or injury cause you to miss your house payment?  Do you find yourself using plastic for everyday purchases?

• No retirement plans?  Are you on the downside of fifty with no retirement savings?  When your spouse asks how you will fund retirement, do you try to mask the problem with, “It will all work out”?

Experts tell us that a key to managing stress is to identify the source of the stress and take steps to take control of it.  For example, listing all of your debtors and amounts of debt is a great first step toward dealing with your debt stress.  Creating a plan to reduce that debt, even in small increments, will do wonders for your stress level because you are dealing with the problem instead of denying it.  Ditto for lack of savings or poor retirement planning.  Give it a try: taking action will escalate your self esteem and give you a new bounce in your step.

Best of all, you will start sleeping at night.