Dying in sleep and end of world anxiety

[Rowan203]

For years I've had a fear of dying in my sleep. I go through random phases with it, but it also affects me at specific times - When I'm go on holiday, and the 23rd December and the days surrounding that date. (So my fear often carries over to the 24th too and the 22nd as that leads into the 23rd...)

It's always put on a downer on my Christmas's, and this year, with the whole end of the world business, it's worse - I feel like I have a real valid reason to be scared now. (Though oddly I do not worry about the world ending while I'm awake!) It's also made so I've been scared for more days then usual! I know the accepted date was the 21st which has come and passed but I read somewhere that a lot of experts argue that the Mayan calendar actually ends on the 23rd - This has totally freaked me out because that's the exact date I've been scared to sleep on for years. I know it's crazy, but I think to myself, what if it's a sign? And I've also heard people say that they had dreams that the world will actually end on that date. I got through last night and slept okay and here I am, but I am still scared to go to sleep tonight, because tonight is another day that has always scared me, and what if it catches me unawares? I don't want to die so soon before Christmas. I also get scared to sleep on Christmas Eve so it's literally at the point where I'm considering staying awake 60+ hours to take me through to Christmas day.

I'm on diazapam at the minute for it, twice a day, in the early evening and before bed, but I don't really notice it have too much of an affect on me, though I have actually managed to have broken sleep the past few nights, but it is tonight and tomorrow I am really worried about...I really don't know what to do, is it possible to just stay awake that long? =(

[gem7]

dont worry u have nothing to worry about the world ending on the 23rd it was going to end 21st but it didnt try watching abit of telly or listen to some music to calm your self down and take your mind off it nothing will happen now try to sleep well tonight and start looking forward to christmas ok oh and merry christmas

[Mark13]

21st was nonsense, so is the 23rd...don't give it a second thought. There have been thousands of prophecies of doom over the millenia, why on earth should the Mayans know something no-one else does?

Science my friend not hearsay, mumbo-jumbo scare-mongering. Anyway the Mayans never said anything about Armageddon, it was just the end of their calendar phase and would have been the start of a new one.

If the scientists say there's a meteor headed straight for us, we'll all worry then. No need to get worked up over comments made by folk on the net with overactive imaginations.