#Medication for insomnia due to anxiety tv#
If you do get up, don’t do anything too stimulating like playing on your phone or watching TV as this can make you more anxious and make it even harder to get to sleep. When you then go back to bed, your mind will have had a chance to think more positively, helping you to switch off and drift to sleep. You could listen to soothing music, do some simple yoga stretches, or read a chapter of your favourite book. Try doing something that’s relaxing and not overly stimulating. If your worries are going round and round in your head in the middle of the night, getting up and doing something else for 5 or 10 minutes can help you to break away from your anxiety. Sometimes, a useful way to reduce your anxiety is to physically focus on something completely different. For example, imagine that you’re walking along a warm sandy beach or sat in a peaceful forest clearing – anything that will help you to feel relaxed. Focus your mind on positive thoughts or images too. Focus on different parts of your body, working all the way from the top of your head down to your toes, envisaging all of your muscles becoming gradually relaxed and heavy. You can also consciously relax your muscles. Doing this for a few minutes can help you to feel calmer and more relaxed.
Take a deep breath through your nose, feeling your whole abdomen rise as you do so, before breathing out slowly through your mouth. It sounds really simple, but just inhaling slowly and deeply can help massively. In these situations, try to get your body back into a relaxed, resting state. If you’re lying awake at night with your heart pounding, it’s likely your fight or flight response has been triggered. It can be challenging, but there are ways to stop ruminating and get your anxiety related insomnia under control. Key psychological signs like a persistent sense of worry, dread or apprehension leave sufferers of anxiety-induced insomnia unable to relax, unwind and ultimately fall asleep.ĭespite a physical sense of exhaustion and fatigue that often comes from anxiety, insomnia and anxiety can leave us ruminating (thinking deeply about something over and over again) in bed at night. What does Anxiety Insomnia feel like?Ĭertain symptoms of anxiety can quickly combine to make it harder for you to sleep, resulting in anxiety-induced insomnia. If you’ve reached the stage where your anxiety is leading to insomnia and your insomnia then leads to more anxiety, it’s time to take steps to stop the cycle and achieve positive mental wellbeing again. You may struggle to get to sleep again the following evening, resulting in the cycle starting all over again. If you can’t sleep because you’re feeling anxious, this lack of sleep can make you tired, irritable and even more anxious the next day. Unfortunately, the link between anxiety and insomnia can act like a vicious circle.
If your anxiety triggers your fight or flight response while you’re in bed, these changes can over-stimulate your body, so that you can find it impossible to drop off to sleep. This heightened sense of anxiety is our body’s way of protecting us in threatening situations and causes physical changes, including an increase in heart rate and the release of adrenaline, which are designed to help us be stronger (fight) or run faster (flight). This can lead to your anxiety building, and your body’s ‘fight or flight’ response being activated. If you go to bed feeling anxious, whether you’re worried about work, or something in your personal life, lying in bed without any distractions gives your mind the time to go over and over your worries. If this is something you are struggling with, this guide, which contains a number of practical things you can do to manage your anxiety-related insomnia, might help you to get deal with the problem and get a better nights’ sleep. Page medically reviewed by Dr Ian Nnatu (MB BS, PG DIP (CBT), MSc, FRCPsych, MRCPsych) Consultant Adult Psychiatrist at Priory Hospital North London What is Anxiety Insomnia?ĭo you lie awake at night worrying to the point where you find it impossible to sleep? Insomnia, and other serious disturbances of sleep, are well established as a common symptom of anxiety disorders, as people’s worries disrupt their ability to sleep well.
0 kommentar(er)
