Maybe you have that common plague of lying awake at night worrying about all the sleep you are missing. Thinking about your lack of sleep builds up more tension and ensures that you don’t fall asleep at all. One solution is to try and do the opposite. Try to stay awake as long as possible, repeatedly going over what you did during the day, or doing mental calculations, or reading boring books. Eventually, exhaustion will take over, your eyes will droop, and sleep will overtake you no matter how hard you struggle to lie awake.
Another way to help you sleep is to close your eyes and imagine a pitch black window shade slowly unrolling downward. On it, you see in large letters the word SLEEP. Concentrate on seeing this word on the shade as it gradually winds down. Feel yourself sinking steadily into sleep as the shade comes down.
How does anxiety cause sleep problems?
When people are stressed out, serotonin, the neurotransmitter which plays a major role in processing messages in the brain, affects the melatonin levels. Melatonin, a hormone essential for the stimulation of a good night’s sleep, is compromised when one is stressed or anxious. With this reduction in the melatonin levels, one develops problems in the wake-sleep cycle. In addition, this inability to sleep causes further anxiety that result in wave after wave of adrenalin being released into the bloodstream. This adds to the inability to sleep and keeps one super alert.
The vicious cycle of anxiety-insomnia problem will continue on if not managed soon. To stop this problem, it is important to seek immediate medical help to assess whether the anxiety is medically or psychologically related. If it is medically related, it could be caused by conditions like brain injury, heart problem, low oxygen levels, or sleep apnea. It would also help to determine if your sleep problems are just occurring during a time of stress or a sudden change in your routine or they have been chronic. There are times that sleep problems happen because of some outside forces like noise, room temperature, or change in work schedule. Difficulty sleeping would probably stop once you have adjusted. But if it continues on for quite a time (lasts longer than 3 to 4 weeks) and is a cause for concern (it interferes with your daily activities and hinders you to normally function), then you should definitely seek medical help for it can be an indication of depression and anxiety. You would need some psychological or psychiatric intervention to deal with the problem. This goes out most especially if you belong to the high risk groups, such as travelers, senior citizens, pregnant women, menopausal women, and people with substance abuse issues.
