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Hello all

Maz
Community Member
Hello my name is Maz and fro the past few months I have been experiencing insomnia and anxiety associated with that. It is a really isolating place to be in my opinion. I have recently begun a medication to help with sleep but I have tried lots of other things also to varying degrees of success. Acupuncture, Chinese medicine, hypnosis, counselling, meditation, kineseology and other herbal mixtures, CBD Oil. I would be interested in how other people how navigated this journey. I resigned from work and moved back home to be closer to family, I want to be myself again and would love to go back to work, thanks for reading 🙂
5 Replies 5

Ggrand
Community Champion
Community Champion

Hello Dear Max,

 

Welcome to the forums, really sorry it’s taken a while for a reply…sometimes pages move quickly and are pushed back a bit…

 

I occasionally have insomnia when I’m really full of anxiety…I do every night listen to sleep stories, and generally fall asleep before the story ends….while I was in hospital the lovely nurses, Physiatrist told me about how if our mind is running circles around our anxious thoughts, we need to calm them….sleep stories does that for me…concentrating on the reader’s gentle voice and listening to the stories really does help me….Maybe you could give them a try….when on YouTube just search sleep stories….their is a large collection on there..

 

We also have a few great thread on these forums about sleep…if you search “Sleep” a number of threads will pop up for you to read and/or contribute your thoughts, questions if you feel up to it…

 

My kindest thoughts Dear Max..

Grandy..

sbella02
Community Champion
Community Champion

Hey Maz, thank you so much for reaching out here, we're happy to help. I'm sorry to hear that you've been struggling and you're right, it can be so isolating, particularly with insomnia which can inadvertently give you the opportunity to be alone with your thoughts for prolonged periods and therefore experience more anxiety. It's a vicious cycle. 

 

First of all, do you find that moving back home has helped with your anxiety at all, or is it still just as prevalent?

 

With regards to sleep, I still have a terrible sleep schedule and have also tried various methods of improving this, with varying degrees of success. I would like to ask, is it falling asleep, staying asleep, or the whole process of getting ready to go to sleep that you're struggling the most with? I know that for me, I find it difficult to stop whatever I'm doing and go to sleep, but I find that I fall asleep fairly quickly most of the time, and I'll generally stay asleep once I get there. Either way, there can be different ways of dealing with each of these sleep-related struggles.

 

With regards to anxiety, when I'm really struggling, I'll turn to my journal and write out everything I'm feeling. It can be really therapeutic to organise your thoughts in this way, and it can also help to exhaust some of that anxious energy because it keeps your hands and your brain occupied for a little while. Exercise can also be good for combatting anxiety as it produces endorphins that'll make you feel better.

 

Let us know your thoughts, and feel free to continue chatting with us if you feel like you have more to say, we're here to support you.

 

All the best, SB

Maz
Community Member

Hi Grandy, thank you for your reply, yes for me it seems that anxiety is underneath the insomnia, I have tried sleep meditation but not the sleep stories, I will take a look I have an app that I think has some. Have a lovely day 🙂

 

Maz
Community Member

Hello all, I would be interested in discussing my experiences in this area and also to hear yours and your journey with anxiety/stress responses and insomnia. I feel like I have been on such a journey but eel I just might be coming out the other side 🙂

Hi Maz,

 

It's great to hear that you're coming out the other side! That's good news. 

 

My apologies for not responding in a little while, uni has been kicking me to the curb a little so lack of sleep is still very topical for me. As somebody with a list of things to do on my night-time routine, I've often found that getting these done the moment I finish dinner can be really helpful later on, as it helps reduce my before-bed procrastination. I've also only recently tried wearing sunglasses before bed to reduce my light exposure, which seems to be helping a little. I'm still working on other sleep hygiene tactics, like trying to only use my bedroom for sleeping and not things like doing work, but others seem to say that these work quite well.

 

I mentioned this in my previous post, but journaling is very cathartic for me. I've never found breathing exercises particularly helpful, but I know that they can work well for some people. Listening to music is also a helpful one for me. I also write songs and do other creative things, which can often be really calming for me as well. Any equivalent hobbies can help to ease feelings of stress or anxiousness. ASMR or relaxing videos can also be good for tackling both sleep and anxiety. 

 

We would also love to hear more about your experiences, if you'd be willing to share!