Anxiety alone is exhausting enough but when anxiety prevents you from sleeping it is a double whammy which feels like a quadruple whammy. You go to bed tired and wake up tired. You lie awake, your mind in an out of control spin, worrying yourself into a total state from which there appears no exit. What can you do? The first thing to recognise is that just as anxiety is a natural state, which we have misinterpreted, sleep is also a natural state. Our recovery is about returning our bodies and minds to “normal”. As we recover from anxiety we will find we have less trouble sleeping. However just as there are skills, which we need to learn in order to manage our anxiety, so there are skills, which will help us manage our sleep.
The body operates a twenty-four hour cycle called the circadian rhythm, which energises us during the day, and allows us to sleep at night. Sleep and wakefulness are two sides of the same coin. Being active during the day helps us sleep at night while a good sleep give us more energy during the day. We all know the opposite is true; anxious, fit-full, poor quality sleep leads to fatigue during the day, poor concentration, irritability, and muscular aches and pains. Poor quality sleep mirrors and adds to the symptoms of anxiety, leading to a downward spiral of irritability and exhaustion.
It is essential that sleep management be incorporated into our anxiety recovery as part of our skill Repertoire. Sleep management is about establishing a regular pattern of sleep and physical activity.
There a number of things you should do to improve your sleep.
When you wake up:
Get out of bed as soon as you wake up; do not go back to sleep or try to make up for lost sleep.
Try to get up around the same time each morning.
When you wake up, go outside into the sun and do some physical activity like walking.
During the day:
Do not nap; napping will make you less tired at night.
If you are worrying about things set aside some worry time and write your worries out, and as always, challenge these worries. Are they rational? Is there any outside evidence to support them? Is there any outside evidence to refute them? On the weight of outside evidence, which case is strongest? Do this during the day and if your worries return at night simply say to yourself, “No, I don’t have to think about this, I have already taken care of that.”
Try to be active early in the day or late afternoon.
Avoid drinking caffeine in the afternoon and try not to drink more than two cups in a day.
Going to bed:
Avoid going to bed too early.
Avoid using alcohol to help you to sleep. Alcohol causes you to sleep less deeply and wake more frequently.
Do not smoke within an hour or two of going to sleep; nicotine stimulates the nervous system.
Allow yourself time to wind down before going to bed. Watching television, playing loud music or stimulating computer games are not winding down, they are winding up.
If you cannot go to sleep:
Get up if you cannot sleep after 20 minutes. Staying in bed when you are feeling restless and anxious is unlikely to result in sleep.
Do something quite and distracting. By distracting yourself from your worries you may find it easier to wind down. Use meditation tapes, and relaxation techniques.
Go back to bed when you feel more relaxed and sleepy.
If you are still awake after a further 20 minutes repeat the process.
Do not despair, recovery is not an overnight process, nor is re-establishing a good sleep pattern. There will be good nights and bad nights, good days and bad days but so long as you keep going you will get there.
By Brien Cole, Naturopath.
No comments:
Post a Comment