[rvlad89]

Hello,

I have been dealing with anxiety and insomnia on and off ( but mostly on) for a couple of years. I understand acceptance, befriend wakefulness, self kindness after a bad night etc… The only problem is it is a little hard for me because I don’t feel tired after a bad night, I actually feel very weird, sometimes on the edge of panick. In the beginning it even started with dpdr and very strong anxiety. I understand logicaly a bad night is a bad night but my amygdala seems to have a different opinion about how I should cope after a bad night and tries to give me to much anxiety. They kinda started în the same time, with this pattern. How do I approach this vicious cycle without letting them feed each other so hard?
Thank you

[hiker]

Hi rvlad89, I can relate to your situation. It is one thing to understand how to deal with insomnia logically, but quite another emotionally. The anxiety just barrels on through: as you put it, the amygdala seems to have a different opinion regardless of our intellectual understanding of the issue.

I wish I had a magic solution, but I don’t think there is any solution, in the sense like you can solve the problem of a glass tipping off the edge of a table by placing it closer to the center of the table. My best approach, when I remember, is to just observe whatever is happening, like how anxious I am getting about whether I will sleep better tonight…hopefully, without diving into the anxiety and swimming in it.

Side point: On tiredness, there is a difference, as I’m sure you know, between being tired and being sleepy. After a bad night, I am tired but not necessarily sleepy. I never even attempt a short nap if I’m not sleepy.

I have actually had poor sleep the last few nights. Right now, I’m at the point of recalling that this isn’t my first rodeo; I’d like to sleep better tonight; I can’t control whether I do; and whatever happens, happens. That might sound passive, but I think that’s what all this boils down to.

[rvlad89]

Well of course tiredness itself is not an issue since it is masked by all this anxiety. Just have to allow it to happen until the brain sees there is no threat.

[Martin Reed]

You mentioned that your amygdala gives you “too much” anxiety. I might be wrong here but to me, this implies there might be some (understandable!) resistance to anxiety. If I am off-base here, I apologize!

If I might be on the right track, I would say this: Quite often, the more we try to fight or avoid natural and normal (and difficult) human feelings like anxiety, the more powerful and influential they can become and the more difficult they can become, too.

You mentioned that you understand acceptance. How are you practicing it?

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