Die Anfälligkeit für Stress verstärkt die Art und Weise, wie ein rasender Geist den Schlaf stört. Ein stressigerer Tag als gewöhnlich kann den Schlaf eines jeden stören. Aber bei Menschen mit hoher Schlafreaktivität (der Schlaf wird durch Stressfaktoren leicht gestört) stören rasende Gedanken das Durchschlafen in der Nacht.

I’ve linked to the news release in the post above. In this comment, for those interested, here’s the link to the peer reviewed journal article:

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/jsr.70220

From the linked article:

**Vulnerability to stress magnifies how a racing mind disrupts sleep**

A new study provides evidence that a person’s innate vulnerability to stress-induced sleep problems can intensify how much a racing mind disrupts their sleep over time. While daily stress affects everyone’s sleep to some degree, this trait appears to make some people more susceptible to fragmented sleep. The findings were published in the Journal of Sleep Research.

Scientists have long understood that stress can be detrimental to sleep. One of the primary ways this occurs is through pre-sleep arousal, a state of heightened mental or physical activity just before bedtime. Researchers have also identified a trait known as sleep reactivity, which describes how susceptible a person’s sleep is to disruption from stress. Some individuals have **high sleep reactivity, meaning their sleep is easily disturbed by stressors**, while others have low reactivity and can sleep soundly even under pressure.

This finding suggests that **experiencing a more stressful day than usual is likely to disrupt anyone’s sleep** to some extent, regardless of their underlying reactivity. It appears to be a common human response for stress to activate the mind at bedtime, making sleep more difficult. The trait of sleep reactivity did not seem to alter this immediate, day-to-day effect.

Individuals with **high sleep reactivity** showed a much stronger connection between their average stress levels, their average pre-sleep cognitive arousal, and their sleep quality. For these highly reactive individuals, having higher average levels of cognitive arousal was specifically linked to spending more time awake after initially falling asleep. In other words, their predisposition to stress-related sleep disturbance made their **racing thoughts more disruptive to maintaining sleep throughout the night**.