Sleep problems and anxiety

[nokindofhero]

Hey, guys. Josh, here. 27 years old. Anxiety and panic disorder for 10 years.

So, I woke up a little over an hour ago pretty much hyperventilating with a fast heartbeat. Familiarwith it, so I calmed myself down in about 30-45 minutes. As I get older, I just worry it becomes more dangerous for some reason..

I've been asleep maybe 4 hours but I was having a weird dream before I woke up.

Anyway, this whole deal has been slowly growing to this point for weeks and I've just been worrying myself with heart problems and palps because I've had dark circles and some fatigue that develop whenever I do anything like be social at all. Even having a friend over feels draining and drags me way down and that's when I feel like the dark circles get worse.

So, I started getting worried about the dark circles and had started trying to calculate how much sleep I was getting and it feels on average about 4-5 hours a night with a 3 hour nap in the day.

I am home with agoraphobia now for 6 months.

I also have bad sinus problems lately and read that pressure can cause the circles.

I take 5-10mg melatonin for sleep but I just can't stay asleep for long but I don't wake up feeling too tired until a few hours later.

Thanks for any and all help. I just want this weird combination of poor sleep, anxiety and fatigue with dark circles to go away.

[AnxietyDJ]

Hi Josh,

I can assure you that there isn't any sinister happening to you, its just the anxiety (as you already seem to know) running free and controlling your moods and daily actions. If you're not sleeping well that will make you feel worse and create the dark circles you are worried about.

You do sort of answer your own question, when you say you can only sleep for 4-5 hours per night, but then have a 3 hour nap in the day... If I do this (as I did yesterday, in fact), then I find it almost impossible to sleep through the night... If you continually do this day after day, you end up changing your body's sleep routine and that becomes the norm for you. I don't think many people could sleep all night if they were taking such a big nap every day - you are getting the required amount of sleep, but in two chunks, instead of one, which isn't as effective. You need to break the cycle for a few days in a row - which I know from my own experience is very difficult - and you'll find that gradually you can return to your old sleep pattern, which will in turn make you feel more alert and less anxious during the day.

Good luck - hope you manage to work through all of this :) We're always here for you!

[nokindofhero]

Thank you so, so very much for the reassurance!

I've been up since 430 and it's now close to 3 hours later, having had roughly 3 1/2 hours of sleep but I'm just not tired and that worries me haha.

I guess I'll try to take a shorter nap, because I know I will eventually.

[AnxietyDJ]

Yes, it's really difficult when your body is crying out for the sleep that it has become so accustomed to, but if you can avoid it for just a few days, it will be a great step to feeling better in the longer term :)

Try to keep yourself active where you can - again, I know from experience that there's nothing worse than just lazing around doing nothing at home, to make you keep thinking about that nap that you usually take.

Stay positive and you can do this!