Get Rid Of Your Clock
Clocks can be a common trigger for anxiety, especially when youre trying to fall asleep. Instead of having a clock by your bedside where you can glance at it every time you struggle to fall asleep keep a clock outside your room instead. Looking at the clock will only cause your anxiety to get worse, so avoid it altogether.
What Tests Help Confirm A Sleep Anxiety Diagnosis
In some cases, your provider may do a sleep study to find out if you have a sleep disorder. Also called polysomnography, a sleep study is a test where you stay overnight in a sleep lab. Your healthcare provider evaluates how your body works during sleep by checking your:
- Blood oxygen levels.
- Snoring or other noises you make during sleep.
Sleep Anxiety Tips: How To Calm Anxiety At Night
*This article is for general information purposes only and is not intended as medical or other professional advice. Visit the links within the text for sources. Casper has not independently verified the sources. While some of us may toss and turn some nights, every night can be a restless night for others. If youve ever struggled with sleep anxiety, you know the feeling of anxiously watching the clock as you worry about not being able to fall asleep and waking up sleep-deprived the next day. There are many statistics that reveal Americans struggle to sleep on a regular basis. As it turns out, anxiety and sleep are connected in a number of ways. Fifty percent of those who are sleep-deprived say that their anxiety impacts their ability to sleep at night. Its important to understand how anxiety can affect your ability to get a good nights rest. This guide covers what sleep anxiety is, the effects of anxiety-induced sleep deprivation, and science-backed tips for decreasing anxious thoughts, as well as how to set yourself up for better sleep.
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Read But Not On Your Phone
Getting lost a book is beneficial for many reasons, and it can be pivotal to sleep health.
Reading is a great way to quiet your mind and distract yourself from any anxious thoughts that might creep up at night. When you are engaged in a story, your thoughts are in the moment, instead of worrying about the future, says Dr. Sal Raichbach, a licensed clinical social worker at Ambrosia Treatment Center. On the other hand, the blue light emitted from cell phones does the opposite. Even if you turn down the brightness, blue light from LED screens interferes with the production of essential brain chemicals like melatonin that tell your body it’s time for bed.
Pick up a real book, and I recommend from extensive experience with insomnia, that you pick the densest, dullest tome in your collection.
Risks Of Sleep Anxiety And How It Fuels Healthism
Imagine this scenario: Youre scrolling through Instagram when you spot an ad for the latest Sleep Aid Bundle, a kit that includes elixirs and gadgets that promise theyre not like the others. Youre intrigued. Last month you tried the #sleeplettucehack, but drinking lettuce leaves steeped in hot water didn’t make you very drowsy after all.
Inspired, you click and spend $75. While you’re at it, you make note to investigate a new sleep tracker and a white-noise machine in case that bundle doesnt work. Maybe your sleep problems need high-cost solutions.
And like that, youve joined the millions of consumers who spend 84.9 billion dollars on sleep aids each year.
Chances are youre buying into healthism a term coined in the 1980s to describe an individuals preoccupation with the pursuit of health and turning sleep into a project, on top of your daily grind.
Healthism blurs the line between balance and taking things to extremes,” says Winter.
Operating on the premise that health problems and disease are an individuals responsibility, healthism uses take-charge branding to make people believe theres a guaranteed cause and effect when we do things for our health. In sleep, healthism fosters the belief that how much you sleep is in your control .
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How Do You Stop Thinking At Night So You Can Sleep
If youre having trouble stopping your racing thoughts and anxieties, you may want to distract yourself with an entertaining fantasy. Should you fail to distract yourself, try getting out of bed and going to a dimly lit room. Return to bed when you feel tired.
You can write down your worries in a notebook, then unwind with a cup of herbal tea or milk. Reading a few pages of a loved book may also help you calm down and give yourself something to think about as you drift off.
How Can I Sleep Alone In My Room Without Being Scared
For some individuals, taking steps to make their home feel secured with smart locks and security systems may help them sleep better. Others may want to speak with a therapist to confront their deeper issues and learn techniques to calm the mind and help them think more positively.
Turning off electronics at least an hour before bed can also help a sleeper calm down before bed. We also recommend limiting scary or stimulating content, such as true crime shows and horror movies.
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What Do Anxiety Dreams Mean
Sometimes people have anxiety dreams because they have a lot of stress during their waking hours. Our bodies can harbor stress which can have physiological symptoms. After having an anxiety dream, its common for someone to wake up in a cold sweat. You may or may not even remember an anxiety dream. Nevertheless, its important to address your stress levels.
Everyone lives with some degree of stress, but we shouldnt allow it to take over our lives. If stress is keeping you up at night, its something you should work towards improving. If youre feeling extreme emotional, physical, or mental tension, youre showing symptoms of stress.
What kinds of things cause stress? As much as you may love your children, theyre not always easy to deal with and they can cause you a great deal of stress. Difficulty at work, moving to another location, life transitions, or the death of a loved one are additional reasons that stress may be encroaching on your life. All of these things can cause anxious dreams.
The quality of your rest affects your moods and attitudes during your waking hours. Severe anxiety can cause you to be hyper-aroused much of the time. Not being able to sleep will likely upset your natural biorhythms, making it even more difficult to fall asleep. The more stressed that you are, the more frequently you may have anxiety dreams and the more often you may wake up remembering at least part of them.
Things You Can Do to Get Better Sleep
So What Can You Do To Calm Down So You Can Actually Sleep
Well, first off, theres no substitute for seeking help from a mental health professional.
An anxiety or trauma therapist, in particular, can help work with you to reduce your anxiety and panic symptoms.
According to Hahn, there are specific treatments, like EMDR or sensorimotor psychotherapy, which can be helpful in resetting your nervous system and settling your overactive amygdala thats causing your anxiety disorder.
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Seek Treatment For Anxiety
If you often feel anxious before bed or during the daytime, its important to seek treatment from a qualified mental health provider.
Almost all anxiety disorders can be treated successfully with the following either alone or in combination: medication, psychotherapy, addressing habits and making lifestyle changes.
If you think you may have an anxiety disorder, you can receive help by talking to your primary care provider about your symptoms. They may refer you to a specialized mental health provider for further treatment.
As part of treatment for anxiety, you may need to use anti-anxiety medications or meet with your provider on a regular basis for therapy.
Alternatively, you can consult a licensed psychiatry provider from home using an online psychiatry service. With online treatment, youll receive a personalized plan, ongoing follow-up care and, if necessary, medication to help control your anxiety symptoms.
With treatment, its possible to gain control over your anxiety and your sleep habits to improve your wellbeing and quality of life.
Set Yourself Up For Healthy Sleep When Stressed And Anxious
If you try all of these steps and still struggle to sleep soundly, consider reaching out to your doctor or a sleep expert for support. Treatments for a generalized anxiety disorder or a sleep disorder can vary significantly.
One mental health treatment, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Insomnia , is an evidence-based therapeutic technique that looks at the interplay of thoughts, feelings, and behaviors that can impact sleep.
Your sleep and anxiety are interconnected. Finding ways to better manage one will ultimately help you find relief with the other.
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Relaxation Techniques To Try
If you’re looking to get your body and mind relaxed before bed, here are some techniques you can try:
- Breathing and meditation techniques help to calm the mind and relieve anxiety before bedtime. A daily practice of deep breathing and body scan meditation combined with music has a positive effect on improving sleep quality and quality of life among older adults.”
- Stretching or Yoga can prepare the body for restful sleep by relaxing the muscles and settling the mind. Yoga appeared to be effective for sleep quality in participants who maintained an 8-week yoga intervention as well as a sleep diary.
Do A Bedroom Makeover
Another helpful trick is to make your bedroom a place for nothing but sleep. For some people living in small loft apartments, this might be tricky, but by putting up a divider or curtain, you may be able to simulate a similar separate room effect.
Regardless, redecorating your bedroom for a more comfortable and quiet environment can do wonders for your sleep health. Consider decluttering the room and regularly changing the bedding or adding a rug to make the space more appealing and comfortable.
If you come into your bedroom and still cant sleep, dont just lay there and wait for slumber to hit. Instead, get up after 15 minutes and work on some small projects until your body naturally feels sleepy.
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Cbt Is A Safe And Effective Treatment For Somniphobia
The science of sleep is infinitely fascinating. It is an interesting point where neurology, psychology, and wellness overlap. And rest is so crucial to our physical and mental health. Yet there are some people who are afraid to go to sleep or have a fear of dying when they fall asleep. This phobia is called sleep anxiety or somniphobia.
Anxiety And Sleep Disorders
As mentioned above, the relationship between sleep and anxiety isnt a one-way street. Not only does research show a clear link between not getting enough sleep and increased anxiety it also shows that anxiety itself can keep you awake and prevent you from maintaining healthy sleep habits.
Insomnia is a well-known symptom of numerous anxiety disorders, including generalized anxiety disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder .
Chronic insomnia can vary in severity from mild and temporary to chronic and severe. Common symptoms of insomnia include:
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Lying awake for a long period of time after you get into bed
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Spending a large percentage of the night awake, unable to sleep
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Only being able to sleep for short periods of time before waking
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Waking up early in the morning, before your alarm goes off
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Feeling tired during the daytime, as if you havent slept
In addition to its link with insomnia, anxiety is also associated with sleep reactivity, which is the degree to which people develop sleep disturbances in response to stress.
This two-way relationship means that anxiety can worsen your sleep, which in turn may worsen your anxiety symptoms.
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Why Am I Scared Of Going To Sleep
Sleep anxiety can happen for a multitude of reasons. A person may dread going to sleep because they are worried about having nightmares or night terrors. Or they may believe that something bad will happen during the night, such as a burglary, fire or death.
A person with a generalised anxiety disorder can also worry about sleep or the nighttime. They may become anxious a lot more at this time, without anything to distract them from their thoughts. And the idea of lying awake worrying at night may leave them feeling anxious about going to bed. There are a multitude of causes of anxiety that may have kick-started this, including:
- Genetic factors
- Trauma, either in adulthood or childhood
- Problems or drastic changes in your life
We are supposed to feel relaxed and tired when it is time for bed. But sleep anxiety can leave a person feeling the exact opposite. While it is human nature for our fight or flight instinct to be activated when faced with possible danger, people with sleep anxiety see dangers associated with sleep such as nightmares, burglaries, or death, which causes their body to fill with adrenaline. This causes them to experience heart palpitations, shortness of breath, loss of concentration, racing thoughts, sweating, and nausea. These anxiety symptoms can make it very difficult to get a good nights sleep, which is something that we all need to maintain our physical and mental health.
Dont Watch Scary Movies Late At Night Or Ever
If you have anxiety, you probably know that watching scary movies can be a big no-no. The more you watch and enjoy scary movies, the more likely youll think about them when trying to fall asleep. And this can lead to some serious sleep issues, which will only worsen your anxiety.
If you like thrillers or horror, watch them during the day. That way, they wont interfere with your sleep cycle at night. Just make sure you dont watch them too close to bedtime. You want to give yourself plenty of time before bed so that any adrenaline from the movie has worn off.
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What Causes Anxiety Before Sleep
According to clinical psychologist Emily Knott, Anxiety before bedtime often takes the form of a phenomenon referred to in psychology as pre-sleep arousal.
Knott says that pre-sleep arousal may cause the body and nervous system to enter a state of heightened awareness that may take the form of problem-solving, thinking about your own thoughts, focusing on stimuli in the environment such as noise and light, and ruminating about the consequences of not being able to sleep.
While there hasnt been extensive research conducted on sleep and anxiety, there are a few reasons why your anxiety may be worse at night. Here are possible causes.
Avoid Unhealthy Coping Strategies To Fall Asleep
You may be using coping tactics like keeping the light or TV on during the night, in an attempt to help you sleep.
Or you may have been using medication, alcohol, or drugs to go to sleep and if so, it is highly recommended that you stop. These wont be addressing the real issues behind why you arent sleeping, and are only providing you with a short-term solution, which could turn into a long-term problem in the future.
Finding relaxation strategies for anxiety that work for you, such as muscle relaxation or visual imagery, can help to distract you from your anxious thoughts. You may even want to find some relaxing music to accompany this. Doing these types of relaxation strategies do require dedication and patience, but over time, they can start to help you to sleep better.
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How Can I Stop Sleep Anxiety
Generally, the same tips for improving sleep hygiene also apply to those who have sleep anxiety. These recommendations range from keeping a set bedtime and wakeup time throughout the week to meditation and mindfulness. The expectations and routines that you have surrounding sleep are important because somniphobia is, in part, a psychological issue.
That is why cognitive behavioral therapy is an especially effective treatment for somniphobia.
Write Down Your Worries
Palacios suggests writing down your worries before you get into bed each night. Ruminating thoughts happen because we continue to go over and over things in our minds, she says.
Writing down our worries and to-dos can help free up some space in our minds, Palacios says.
Writing ones anxious thoughts down is an excellent way to disconnect from them, says Po-Chang Hsu, a physician and medical content expert at SleepingOcean, a website that reviews sleep products. Many people also find the process itself soothing, which may help them wind down and sleep better.
You can try starting a nightly journal where you write down your thoughts each night before you go to sleep.
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Are There Any Risk Factors For Sleep Anxiety
Risk factors for somniphobia include other sleep disorders and negative sleep experiences, anxiety disorders, PTSD, and other medical conditions. Those with a family history of anxiety and sleep disorders are also more likely to experience somniphobia. This type of phobia is more common among women and children.
Does Lack Of Sleep Cause Anxiety
Just about everyone has felt a little high-strung after a bad nights sleep, and more and more, researchers are finding that a lack of sleep can contribute both to short-term irritability and to a higher risk of developing anxiety disorders over the long term.
In a 2013 study published in the Journal of Neuroscience, researchers found that poor quality sleep amplifies reactions in parts of the brain associated with anxiety, such as the amygdala and anterior insula.
Interestingly, these reactions were strongest in people who displayed high levels of trait anxiety, suggesting that those who are already prone to anxiety may experience the largest increase in anxiety if their sleep is affected.
Other research has found that people who are affected by sleep issues such as insomnia may have an elevated risk of developing anxiety.
Put simply, sleep deprivation doesnt just affect your mood it appears to cause physical brain reactions that can trigger anxiety.
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