Erin O'Hara: naturopath and wellness expert on the best ways to stop work stress impacting sleep

When you’re feeling stressed about work, it can be hard to leave it at the office - and this can impact sleeping habits.

Poor sleep quality, including interrupted sleep or non-restorative sleep, is associated with a variety of negative consequences - health-related problems, diminished quality of life, and economic costs.

Naturopath and wellness expert Erin O'Hara unpacked the impact of work stress and poor sleep - and unveiled how you could reduce these impacts. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:06):
You're listening to the Sunday Session podcast with Francesca Rudgin
from News Talks.

Speaker 2 (00:11):
I'd be natural path. Aaron O'Hara joins us now for
a well in the segment, good morning, Good morning. You've
got a really interesting topic today you're talking. You were
just telling me about how just recently you've seen a
lot of people coming into your practice telling you that,
you know, they have their dinner and they sit down
and they start working and they've got a lot of
work that they've got to finish, and then they go
to sleep, go to go to bed, and they can't sleep.

Speaker 3 (00:34):
Yeah, this has become the common thing that I see
in the clinic, and for women and men. I see
quite a lot of men in the clinic as well,
and they'll be working during the day, they have dinner
and then they're like, I've got more work to do,
so they set up and work into the evening and
they try and work literally until they can't work any
longer because they're so tired. And then they get in

(00:55):
bed and they can't sleep, and then they wake up
in the night thinking about work, which is obvious, and
then they can't get back to sleep, and then the
more they kind of keep the cycle going. The more
exhausted they get, and then the more stress they get,
and it creates this negative feedback loop of not looking
after your health.

Speaker 2 (01:12):
And can you tell them, can you say to them,
do you have to do the work? Because they're going
to say you, yeah, I need to do work.

Speaker 3 (01:17):
Yes. That is usually the conversation we have, and we
usually have in depth conversations about working into the evening.
They're like, oh, no, I have to work because I
have to get stuff done and it's my best time
I don't get interrupted. And then we have usually a
discussion about how to get a good sleep rhythm that's
not going to interrupt your sleep quality. And usually my

(01:37):
suggestion around this is getting to bed earlier, which means, yes,
you won't get your work done in the evening, and
not working right up until you go to bed. So
trying to kind of get your work done even if
you are having to work a little bit into the evening,
still having a good two hours between working on your
computer and going to bed, and then going to bed

(01:59):
earlier than you would because if you've stayed up till
one or two o'clock in the morning, which is something
I do actually see then you're actually moving your bedtime
earlier and instead getting a good quality sleep because you've
gone to bed earlier, You've actually had that little window
of like resting your brain, getting in some good sleep habits,
getting the quality sleep, and then waking up early and

(02:21):
actually having that uninterrupted worktime early hours in the morning,
because that is actually the time that quartisole, which is
your stress woman but also your energy hormone, starts to rise.

Speaker 2 (02:31):
You're kind of working.

Speaker 3 (02:31):
With the natural flows of quarterisole rhythm and malatonin, which
means you'll get better quality sleep at night. But also
you're kind of then just starting the day earlier and
you'll actually flow into the day fairly fresher. Yeah, you'll
feel fresher. The only thing that you know some people
will comment is they're like, oh, but then I'm thinking
about work because I've got stuff to do in the morning.

(02:53):
But I think it's about making sure you've got that
wind down time and also prioritizing your own health over
your work. I think sometimes this modern day world, we
can sometimes get so out of context that work is
actually more on how important than a health, But actually
without a health we have nothing, so I think making
sure you're kind of prioritizing looking after yourself and knowing

(03:16):
that the more you get that quality sleep, the more
productive you're also going to be during the day. So
you're actually going to have a better output with work
during the daytime, better thinking, cognition, getting stuff done, and
you'll be able to action more during the day when
you've had a good quality sleep.

Speaker 2 (03:32):
So some other quick tips to help you prevent job
stress from disturbing your sleep. I think maybe starting a
meditation practice or breathing practice in the evening so you
can start to decloding your mind and then drop into
that deep sleep, and then also prioritizing a good circadian
rhythm or sleep rhythm, go to bed at a similar time,
waking up a similar time, and maybe it's adjusting that

(03:54):
rhythm so you're actually going to bed earlier and waking
up earlier. Love it, Thank you so much.

Speaker 1 (03:59):
Erin for more from the Sunday session with Francesca Rudkin,
listen live to news Talks there'd be from nine am Sunday,
or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio.