Anxiety controlling my sleep

[RedWolfe]

Hi everyone,

I have severe anxiety and I have also been diagnosed with depression. I get anxiety a lot during the day but now, I’m also getting them when I’m sleeping and I’ll wake up while I’m having an anxiety attack. It makes me so scared to go to sleep. I mean I am really, properly scared. I’ve seen my GP but there’s not much more she can do. Just wondering if there might be any advice?

Thanks.

[Guest_2496]

Hi RedWolfe and welcome to the forums.

I’m sorry that your GP wasn’t any help with this but the fact you reached out to her, and here, is great. Proactive step in your own healing:)

I think if you’re scared before you go to sleep then it’s likely you won’t sleep well. Can you have a warm bath with Epsom salts? If you don’t have a bath maybe rub magnesium oil, or lavender oil on your shoulders and listen to something calming on youtube - Michael Sealey meditations. These are some things that help me.

And then if I wake during the night I’ll listen again, and/or use the headspace app. They have a great 3 min ‘panic’ meditation.

You can also check the tips at the top of the anxiety page - hope some of this helps RedWolfe, I know it’s not fun!

[RedWolfe]

annie_1,

Thank you for your advice! I will definitely try it out. Thanks so much for replying back.

[Blusky]

Hi Redwolfe,

Thanks for sharing. I can relate to the sleepless nights caused by anxiety.

The advice from Anne_1 helps me (I am going to check out that headspace app for sure!) although I find Vick’s vapour rub calms me down the most. You will find the smell that’s right for you. Meditation helps especially after a high energy day.

If you can target anything in your day that may trigger your anxiety write it down, even one word. That too helps.

Other things that helps me is having a good diet, limited my alcohol intake and posting my thoughts here (After my first post here I slept for the longest time), speaking with a physiologist ( she gave me tools to help cope an reassurance).

I hope you find a ‘go to’ that works for you.

[Guest_2496]

Hi RedWolfe and Blusky

Glad you found my post helpful - let me know if trying the things did help RedWolfe? and Blusky so funny you mention Tiger Balm - I use So much of that ha ha. It definitely calms me during the day and I Think relaxes my shoulder muscles to an extent. I find lavender especially calming at night though to try and sleep.

Blusky you mentioned the psychologist shared some coping strategies with you - can you recommend any? I saw a psychologist for several months since late last year (have finished now) but it was mostly talk therapy, no real strategies from her...

[RedWolfe]

Thank you Blusky and annie_1 for your wonderful advice, it really means a lot.

I have tried the lavender oil, and Michael Sealey it has worked quite well for me. I’m also going to try the Headspace app.

Thanks so much again.

[44Max44]

Hi RedWolfe,
I also have a really hard time getting to sleep and sometimes staying to sleep due to my anxiety, but I do have a few things that I hope help:

- Valerian & Melatonin (natural sleep aids). Melatonin tells your body that it's time to sleep and if you take it at the exact same time every night it will get your body into the habit of getting to sleep at that time, and will also give you longer more restful sleep. Valerian helps get you to sleep and also helps keep you asleep, and (in my experience) has the added bonus of giving you pretty vivid dreams. At one point I found myself excited to go to sleep just to experience the dreams. Melatonin & Valerian are my picks, but there are so many other natural sleep aids out there that could help you out. If you take any other medication you might want to ask your GP first if it's okay to mix.

- Background noise while trying to sleep. Some that I like are sounds of waves, rainforests, rain, campfires, and more. There are even apps where you can customize and create your very own sleeping soundtrack to have whatever you'd like in it. Or in the summer, I have my fan as background noise.
I find that having a silent room at night can make me focus on my anxiety whereas if I have a soundtrack on I'm focusing on the sounds in that.

- This is a weird one, but who knows, it might help you as it helped me.
Lucid Dreaming. Pretty much the easiest way to get yourself introduced to lucid dreaming is to write down anything and everything you remember from your dreams after you wake up. Do this for a while, and eventually, you'll find yourself being aware and able to manipulate your dreams to an extent.
The reason this helped me is because, as I mentioned above, sometimes I found myself excited to go to sleep just because of my dreams and for once I was wanting to go to sleep instead of dreading it.



I hope any of this helps

[Guest_2496]

Good to hear back from you RedWolfe, glad to hear some things are helping.