feeling very overwhelmed,can't sleep :(

[nj86]

A few bad nights sleep, very common for me as I don't sleep well at all, now its caught up and my anxiety is through the roof, now I'm all worked up and worried about not sleeping, haven't been able to go to work for two days this week because now I feel so sick, and I'm exhausted. I love to exercise and eat healthy but now all I can do is lay in bed and not even eat.

[white knight]

Hi NJ welcome

A few remedies that may or may not apply to you.

Are you aware of any sleep irregularity? Ifso a sleep study might be needed. Contact you GP. After my sleep study it was found to be mild SA. I now have a CPAP breathing machine and I sleep like a baby.

Relaxation classes will help. They teach you how to  relax by tensing up your muscles etc. Worth a try. It worked for me 25 years ago till today. Lying in bed at night I do my technique and helps me sleep.

Get up and do something for one hour then go back to bed. Better to have 4 hours sound sleep than 8 hours interupted sleep

Read!  take a magasine to bed for 30 minutes. It allows you to not focus on worrying personal issues.

Eating is not good before bed. 

Thats all I can come up with NJ. good luck

[kai333]

Hey Nj,

Sounds like you're having a rough time of it. 

Firstly I think many people can relate to what you say. I know I can. Having horrible sleep because you're up all night worrying and then you start stressing more because you're not sleeping and it forms a horrible cycle. So you want to sleep but you cant because you're worried you're not sleeping enough. 

I guess the good thing is that there are a lot of things you could try and it depends on what you have already tried. I reckon a good place to start is to go and see your GP (and if you don't have a regular GP that knows about your anxiety, to go out an find a good GP that will listen about your anxiety stuff). Be good to get some medical certificates to explain your absence from work too. GPs are good because they can provide some advice on lifestyle but also they have the key to all the drugs. NOW, drugs are not always the answer, but I reckon if you are having a few nights in a row of bad sleep, it can be really helpful to try out something to just kind of reset you and get you back in the habit of sleeping well.

Meds are only a temporary solution, they aren't going to "treat" the problem. I think what white night said is really good advice. There's this thing called "sleep hygiene" some of it's very obvious but it's a set of good rules to follow to sort of set up your sleeping area to be the best it can be. AND stay away from technology (laptop/mobiles) while in bed. It just hypes you up and the light from the tech will wake you up. 

 

[kai333]

Woops I accidentally clicked post before i mentioned one last thing. 

I find listening to something relaxing before bed can be really helpful (as white knight says). There are a few different one's out there. I haven't tried the whole tensing then relaxing muscles thing (i think it's called progressive muscle relaxation). I prefer mindfullness/yoga nidra, i find they are very similar (have a look on google and youtube). There are some really good tracks out there. 

All the best and hope you sleep well soon. 

[nj86]

Thanx guys for ur advice, I appreciate it lots 🙂 I've decided to talk to my gp about my anxiety and insomnia, I'm very nervous about it, but in a way looking forward to getting help 🙂

[white knight]

Hi NJ

Progressive Muscle Relaxation, when I first did it, it was in a group on the floor at a medical centre. It worked so well I had a sort of 'out of body experience'. Since then I've tried to get to that point again by myself unsuccessfully likely because I wasnt being led and therefore I might be rushing it.

At any rate I thinkit is great because you can do it lying in bed.

[Chloekat84]

Hello NJ. Ive been havin troubles with sleep too that i often end up having a nap during the day as its the only way to stop my constant anxiety, Let us know how u went at the docs 🙂 Take care x