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your welcome,
1. affirmations:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V7DmUqZ0cP0&list=PL69ux648dL6AZN8xX4kKWofDoEO9Iuy_U&index=3&t=1860s2. yes I did have to fake it I guess, but more or less it was to reassure myself. when anxiety overwhelmed me my mind would get caught in a trap. so I had to remind myself that it doesn’t matter. I also got so fed up and exhausted from being anxious I got to the point where I didnt want to go on, so eventually the only way out was to not care. I guess I had to reach a real low to get here but I never gave up! Now not caring comes very easily and I have such a better quality of life 🙂
3. yes I got out of bed whenever I was anxious. I didnt clock watch, and only went back to bed when I wasnt anxious anymore and I was starting to get very very sleepy. sometimes it would be only after 15 minutes, sometimes it would take 1 hour or so.
4. It was hard to really enjoy being out of bed, but I found ways to enjoy it. also it was better than lying in bed frustrated! I found a good book and put on some relaxing music which I quite enjoyed. I made sure I was warm and comfortable
5. I had a good week at week 4 of the sleep course but then fell back to even worse anxiety, I almost gave up on week 7 but Im so glad I didnt! By the end of week 7 and 8 I had finally conquered not caring, and I did this by really facing my fears and journaling. I continue to face my fears, confront them, not care too much about sleep and try to make the most of everyday.
Oh.. One thing that helped and may help you as your anxiety sound similar??
Is that I found a strict sleep window giving me increased anxiety.
So one hour before my sleep window I stopped checking the clock and would go based in emotion, if I got very sleepy and my head started dropping etc I would just go to bed. So I didnt know the time I just relaxed and went to bed when sleepy.
Also I actually had to lengthen my sleep window because it was making me anxious, so if I was awake before my alarm and starting to feel alert, I would just get out of bed to start my day. It helped knowing the time frame wasnt so strict. Just going off emotion/when you feel sleepy and then when your alert really helped.
Going a bit easier on myself helped me not to worry so muchHi, I have read some of your other replies and it sounds like like me, I was getting terrible anxiety as the day went on and as soon as the sun went down it got so much worse.
night time should be the time to relax and feel safe, but instead it filled me with dread and anxiety. It was really hard to deal with.
But I had to face my fears, I thought to myself, ohwell what if I dont sleep? Thats fine. and sleep will eventually win, also I journalled my fears. I bought a CBT book for anxiety that helped you write down all your thoughts, see how they made you feel and then analyze. One thing that really helped was talking to a friend or family member and getting their thoughts/reactions to my thoughts/worries that I had written down. This helped me to see that my concerns and worries were irrational and not really that scary at all.
Remembering everybody has bad nights, and this bad patch of anxiety and bad sleep will pass.
Being grateful helped also.My sleep window was about 6 hours, and some nights I did not go to sleep at all, I would be in and out of bed 6 or 7 times. It was so hard! But getting out of bed really helped me, it calmed my anxiety.
I would read a book, or listen to an audio book, also affirmations about anxiety/sleep really helped that I found on you tube
I tried to view that time when I got out of bed as my special time, where I had no distractions or people to please, this helped me enjoy this time more. I would make sure I was warm, have a nice dim light, put some ocean music on and read or something. It helped and when I was out of bed, the more I became tired, the less the anxiety would be.If I got into bed and immediately became anxious I would tell myself, I DONT CARE anymore, not caring was the biggest thing for me, just letting whatever happened to me happen. Its ok, life will go on and you will have some good moments the next day, shift your attention to the present like how your sheets feel on your skin or something like that, and tell yourself its ok, and you dont care anymore.
Hope this helps, I know Ill still have bad nights and everyone does, the important thing is to not care about those nights. Ive found now that if I dont care and Im not anxious, after a bad night my sleep drive is stronger and its usually followed with a good night 🙂
