Anxiety and No Sleep

[Hanbr]

Gah I just can't sleep with my anxiety till about 5am because I just feel constantly anxious.. currently sitting here feeling on edge and ready to 'fight or flight'
My mind just won't switch on... and I'm constantly sitting here thinking am I Ill, do I need an ambulance? I know it sounds crazy and I feel crazy....but I am so tired of not being able to sleep.

Anyone else awake at this horrid hour??

[Clydesdale Epona]

Hello there :)
thanks to a rough patch i've kinda slipped back into letting my anxiety control my sleep, i don't sleep till about 2-3 am(which is pretty good considering but it could be better)
it is rather annoying and i'm sorry you're having a hard time,
have you tried any things that are supposed to help sleep? like chamomile tea, ASMR videos, meditation, breathing exercises, coloring/reading, ect? x

All the best :hugs:

[BikerMatt]

It's very common to have an inverted sleep pattern with anxiety. I'm the same as I've not been getting to sleep until between 4 and 6am.

[fallingstar]

Hanbr,

What you're experiencing is something A LOT of us, if not all of us have gone through with anxiety at some point or another. For example, I've been unable to sleep until after midnight all week until I can't keep my eyes open anymore. Midnight doesn't sound awful but I get up at 6 for my daughter and work. But I've been there before - waking up at 2pm and being up until 7 or 8 am in the morning. I had that for almost half a year back in 2009. It's totally normal and it's totally normal to worry about your health with anxiety. I do a lot. Especially when it's 5am and you're tired. Being tired seems to just make everything amplified I say. I don't do this much anymore but I used to be awake at all hours of the night and morning and just sitting there, two fingers against my neck's artery and concentrating on my pulse - swearing something was going to be wrong.

Try to focus on something like a movie or some music - anything to try to keep you occupied. Then before you know it, you may be waking up hours later.

[Catherine S]

I'm another one. It's not so much the physical side of anxiety, because these days I don't suffer those symptoms too much anymore thankfully, but it's that I can't wind down enough to sleep until the early hours. I'm fortunate in that I'm now retired so even if I don't fall asleep until 4 or 5am, I can still sleep for most of the morning so I'm not really too sleep deprived.

Sometimes it happened when I was working and that was awful, so I feel really sorry for anybody going through sleepless nights and having to go and do a days work on top. Lack of sleep in itself can keep anxiety going for sure, and can become a cycle that's hard to break. I hope you find a way through it.

ISB x