One of the most frequent causes of insomnia is anxiety.
Insomnia of this kind is caused by increased activation of the sympathetic nervous system at night.
The body releases norepinephrine (the flight or fight hormone) at night when that system should be inactive.
You wake up and you feel “wide awake.”
A current patient of Dr. Forster’s is having difficulty sleeping at night due to anxiety. Now she worries about not getting enough sleep. She started with a couple of nights waking up due to anxiety,,, but then she began to worry about the consequences of not getting enough sleep. “Isn’t it true that without enough sleep you age faster?”
So now when she woke up in the middle of the night she had something else to worry about.
There are several sleep hygiene techniques that can lead to a better night’s sleep. These include:
– Keep a regular sleep schedule – our bodies and brains cannot change the times we sleep suddenly, before electricity the time we went to sleep and the time we woke up never varied by more than a few minutes a day.
– Avoid forcing sleep
– Exercise regularly for at least 20 minutes a day 4-5 hours before bedtime
– Avoid smoking
– Do not go to bed hungry
– Adjust the bedroom environment – make sure that your room is cold and dark and quiet.
– Deal with your worries before bed time – it may be helpful to write down your worries and plan some time in the future to review them.
– Do not watch TV, read, eat , or worry while in bed – your bed needs to be associated with sleep.
If after following these tricks you find yourself awake and trying to fall asleep then get out of bed if you are unable to go to sleep within 20 minutes. Only return to bed when you are sleepy. Many people with anxiety induced insomnia find it helpful to write in a journal. When overwhelmed by ideas, thoughts, and feeling, it is a great stres reliever to write them all down on paper. Writing down these anxieties is a way to release them from weighing down on your subconscious.
In addition, there are other measures that can be taken to help ease you into a state of sleep.
– Take an epsom salt bath
– Listen to relaxing CDs (can help regulate sleep waves)
– Read something spiritual or uplifting (not suspenseful)
– Make sure you are exercising regularly