[Daz27041]

Anxiety and Insomnia often go hand in hand. I came across this article and I thought I might post it for those readers that suffer from anxiety. I hope people can gain strength from it.

When you suffer from anxiety what's the worst that can happen? An anxiety attack? More anxious feelings? It's not dangerous, it's just uncomfortable. A positive statement from CBT is this :

It's just my anxiety. It's uncomfortable, but I'm going to carry on with what I am doing anyway.

Seems silly at first, but make statements like that to yourself over and over until they become a natural part of your thinking process. You have to get the message deep down inside the brain. Write them down and stick them on the wall next to your bed. Repeat them out loud until they are 'in'. Then, when the anxiety is there the statement will kick in, bingo, you'll feel a whole lot better.

Here's a few more :

1. I can be anxious and still focus on the task at hand. As I focus on the task, my anxiety will go down.

2. Anxiety is an old habit pattern that my body responds to. I am going to calmly and nicely change this old habit. I feel a little bit of peace despite my anxiety, and this peace is going to grow and grow. As my peace and security grow, then my anxiety will have no choice but to shrink.

3. At first, anxiety was powerful and scary, but as time goes by, it doesn't have that hold on me that I once thought it had. I am moving forward gently and nicely.

4. I don't need to fight my feelings. I realise that these feelings won't be allowed to stay around very much longer. I just accept my new feelings of peace, contentment and calmness.

5. All these things that are happening to me seem overwhelming. But I've caught myself this time and I refuse to focus on these things. Instead, I'm going to talk slowly to myself, focus away from my problem, and continue with what I have to do. In this way, my anxiety will shrink up and disappear.

THE PAST DOES NOT HAVE TO BE THE FUTURE 🙂

[Martin Reed]

Hi Daz

Thanks for sharing. Just so we don't get into any copyright issues, please can you only post excerpts from other articles and post a link in the future? We don't want the power obsessed giving us hassle!!

Back on topic, do you feel that your insomnia is solely due to anxiety?

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If you are ready to stop struggling with insomnia you can enroll in the online insomnia coaching course right now! If you would prefer ongoing phone or video coaching calls as part of a powerful three month program that will help you reclaim your life from insomnia, consider applying for the Insomnia Mastery program.

The content of this post is provided for informational and educational purposes only. It is not medical advice and is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease, disorder, or medical condition. It should never replace any advice given to you by your physician or any other licensed healthcare provider. Insomnia Coach LLC offers coaching services only and does not provide therapy, counseling, medical advice, or medical treatment. All content is provided “as is” and without warranties, either express or implied.

[Daz27041]

No worries Martin, I understand copyright issues. I was incorrect when I said I read them from recent 'articles'. The comments are not from 'articles' and cannot be attributed to any one person/organisation for due credit to be given. They came from other posts and other forms of social media with no reference to where they came from apart from that person who posted it, but they got it from another source not identified ….

Back on topic, to answer your question. No, I don't think my insomnia is anxiety related solely. My insomnia tends to come in fits and bouts with no known causal factors that I am aware of, and it is only when I don't sleep that the anxiety starts. “Why can't I sleep? Will I sleep tonight?” etc and so it goes. When I sleep there's no issues with the anxiety and we know anxiety feeds on itself. I really don't know how and why the insomnia/anxiety started. It just literally came one night, right out of the blue …. strange things us human beings!! But I am pleased to say, I haven't had to take a sleeping pill in a very long time! Any troubles sleeping, which I am also pleased to say are now rare, are usually treated with 1/2 an anti-anxiety tablet, which in small doses, acts as quite a good sleeping pill. And, now that I very rarely take that, as opposed to every day on medical advice, my body responds to it far greater and it does it's job! Here's to that trend continuing!!!!

[sleeplessinky]

Hi Daz…Thanks for sharing. I do suffer from anxiety and I'm so ready to try these suggestions. It is hard for me to determine which came first, the anxiety or the insomnia. I will be starting CBT in 2 weeks and hope that's the answer. I've tried everything else and nothing worked.

[Martin Reed]

'sleeplessinky' wrote on '20:

Hi Daz…Thanks for sharing. I do suffer from anxiety and I'm so ready to try these suggestions. It is hard for me to determine which came first, the anxiety or the insomnia. I will be starting CBT in 2 weeks and hope that's the answer. I've tried everything else and nothing worked.

Please keep us updated on how the CBT goes, and good luck!

—

If you are ready to stop struggling with insomnia you can enroll in the online insomnia coaching course right now! If you would prefer ongoing phone or video coaching calls as part of a powerful three month program that will help you reclaim your life from insomnia, consider applying for the Insomnia Mastery program.

The content of this post is provided for informational and educational purposes only. It is not medical advice and is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease, disorder, or medical condition. It should never replace any advice given to you by your physician or any other licensed healthcare provider. Insomnia Coach LLC offers coaching services only and does not provide therapy, counseling, medical advice, or medical treatment. All content is provided “as is” and without warranties, either express or implied.

[jita]

'sleeplessinky' wrote on '20:

Hi Daz…Thanks for sharing. I do suffer from anxiety and I'm so ready to try these suggestions. It is hard for me to determine which came first, the anxiety or the insomnia. I will be starting CBT in 2 weeks and hope that's the answer. I've tried everything else and nothing worked.

Hi…. I just introduced myself as a new insomniac. As a byproduct of my insomnia I also suffered from anxiety for about a month, which was in my opinion a side effect of an antibiotic I took at the time. I treated the anxiety with L-Theanine, which helped me tremendously. Maybe you tried it already, and if not, it's worth a try.

[Martin Reed]

'jita' wrote on '25:

Hi…. I just introduced myself as a new insomniac. As a byproduct of my insomnia I also suffered from anxiety for about a month, which was in my opinion a side effect of an antibiotic I took at the time. I treated the anxiety with L-Theanine, which helped me tremendously. Maybe you tried it already, and if not, it's worth a try.

Thanks for sharing. L-Theanine has actually cropped up before as a potential insomnia remedy, but this is the first time I've heard about it being useful for anxiety:

http://www.insomnialand.com/blog/natural-insomnia-remedies-you-can-try-today/

—

If you are ready to stop struggling with insomnia you can enroll in the online insomnia coaching course right now! If you would prefer ongoing phone or video coaching calls as part of a powerful three month program that will help you reclaim your life from insomnia, consider applying for the Insomnia Mastery program.

The content of this post is provided for informational and educational purposes only. It is not medical advice and is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease, disorder, or medical condition. It should never replace any advice given to you by your physician or any other licensed healthcare provider. Insomnia Coach LLC offers coaching services only and does not provide therapy, counseling, medical advice, or medical treatment. All content is provided “as is” and without warranties, either express or implied.

[BobbyP]

Just read Daz's statements for coping with anxiety and they sound really, really helpful. I am going to write them down and USE them. Today has been particularly frustrating for me, because I had several good nights of sleep, and then all of a sudden last night I simply could not “shut down.” So today has been very anxiety-ridden for me — and I had been feeling SO good for the past few days. I am staying hopeful for tonight; maybe I'll get back on track. Thanks again, Daz!

[Daz27041]

The following article I found on the net in a Panic Away newsletter which also deals with anxiety. Whilst I do not suffer from panic attacks, this was a part of the information I was getting emailed to me in a newsletter. This information would be helpful to those who have trouble going to sleep. At the end of this original article there was the option to share this via many media and social websites (Facebook etc), so I would assume, it is OK to share it here.

The information came from Barry McDonagh at the PanicAway.com website at this address :

http://www.panicaway.com/newsletter/9

Getting to Sleep and Panic Attacks at Night

As most doctors will tell you, there are two things that disturb sleep: physical pain and worry.

It’s therefore understandable that many people with anxiety report frequent sleep disturbance as a major problem.

Not being able to sleep can actually be quite traumatic for many people.

The first thing you need to understand about sleep is this: it’s not the amount of sleep you get that’s important, but rather the quality of the sleep.

Quality over quantity.

I am going to give you some quick tips to help tackle any problems you are having with sleep. Firstly, to break the insomnia cycle, begin by not presuming you will sleep! That seems like the wrong attitude, but if you approach each night as just a possible opportunity to sleep, this helps remove the pressure you are placing yourself under.

In a way, some people have performance anxiety when they think about sleeping:

“Will I be able to make myself sleep tonight?”

The answer is maybe yes, maybe no. If you’re going through a period of sleeplessness, a good night’s sleep isn’t guaranteed, for whatever reason, so you have to accept that for the moment. If you get one or two hours’ sleep, that’s well and good, and if you get nothing, then accept it and move on. Each night, as you retire, say to yourself:

“I’m preparing for bed, but I won’t try to force sleep. If it comes, it comes. If not, I won’t beat myself up over it. This is a period I’m going through, but I’ll soon return to normal sleep patterns.”

Every person goes through periods of sleeplessness from time to time. It’s very natural. You may not be aware of why you experience sleeplessness, but at the very least, you can accept it.

Let me emphasize the importance of surrendering to your inability to sleep. Surrender to whatever may or may not happen during the course of a night, and you’ll put your mind under less pressure. After a certain point, it’s really the anger and frustration that keep you awake most of the night.

Naturally the best way to get a good night’s sleep is a good physical workout each evening in the outdoors. This is very effective because the mind may try to keep you awake, but the sheer physical exhaustion brings on sleep quicker. Couple that with a willingness to accept sleeplessness, and you’ll find yourself sleeping much easier.

Remember that alcohol, caffeine, and nicotine should be avoided several hours before sleep. You may be the type who finds it initially hard to get to sleep as your mind races with anxious thoughts. Should you find your mind racing and you simply can’t achieve sleep, keep a journal beside your bed. Sit upright and start to write down how you feel:

“I’m feeling quite restless. I keep turning over and over, trying to sleep, but I have worries on my mind.” Now write down all of your worries, for example:

“Tomorrow I have to do X, and I’m afraid I won’t be well rested, etc.”

Continue to write down your worries until the exercise actually becomes quite boring. Then your body and mind will slowly want to return to sleep. Writing like this is a simple tool for preparing your mind in a linear way to wind down and return to sleep (an advanced form of counting sheep).

Don’t be afraid of writing pages and pages of nothing in particular. What you’re doing is helping the conscious mind release whatever is keeping it awake so it can stop obsessing and return to sleep.

You see, one of the reasons we can’t fall asleep is that our mind feels these worries (whatever they are) are important to analyze over and over; they need urgent attention and therefore should be thought about all night long.

The more worked up you get by the worries, the more your body gets stimulated and the harder sleep is to achieve. Writing down all your worries on paper has the effect of saying to your mind:

“Okay, mind, you think these are important. I’ve written them all down in detail. They won’t be forgotten, I promise. I can come back to them tomorrow and deal with them then-but RIGHT NOW, let’s sleep.”

The mind can be like a small child who just needs reassurance that things will be dealt with and looked after. That’s all it needs to let go of these mental worries. You then discover, in the morning, that almost all of the worries or concerns aren’t big issues. Many of our worries are the workings or an overactive imagination.

Dr. Dennis Gersten of San Diego suggests an approach that is effective for particularly restless nights. You may want to experiment with it the next time you are very restless in bed.

Try the following:

-As you lie there in bed, start by remembering a time in your life when you absolutely had to stay awake! Maybe it was an important exam you were studying for and you had to keep cramming through the night.

Maybe it was staying up all night nursing your baby to sleep. Maybe it was when you were traveling through the night on a bus and needed to stay awake in case you missed your stop.

I am sure there have been many different occasions in your life where you had to force yourself to stay awake.

-Remember the weariness and the effort just to keep your eyes open. Remember how your eyelids felt like lead weights and you wished you could close them, even just for a minute. At that time, you could not give in to your urge to fall asleep; you had to fight hard to stay awake. Relive those memories and really try and remember exactly what that felt like.

-Now think about right now, and how good it feels to actually be in bed with no pressing need to stay awake. Think how much you would have given to be where you are now, lying in your bed with your head resting on the pillow and the complete freedom you have to fall asleep. It feels really good to actually have full permission to fall asleep right now.

There are no demands on you to stay awake. With your eyes closed spend a few more minutes remembering that time.

-End of exercise.

[ExhaustedMichelle]

Speaking of anxiety affecting sleep, I just took my normal handful of night time “sleepy meds” and I have started to feel very drowsy, which is supposed to be the point, right? Only now, I'm struggling to suppress a panic attack that I can feel building as a result of the medication drowsiness, because I constantly fear accidental overdose and worry that I've taken too much medicine and now if I ALLOW myself to fall asleep, what if I went overboard and stop breathing? What if I don't wake up?

It's such a horrible cycle that I've gotten myself into. I just wish one day to be completely free of prescription medication, live my life without pain, free from anxiety, and acquire the ability to sleep normally on my own and wake refreshed, happy, and confidently and be the best mom, girlfriend, friend, and overall good person I know I can be WITHOUT pills.

That is my wish for myself and for all of you. 🙂

Michelle

[Author]

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