Sleep: HA in the middle of the night

[NancyW]

I fall asleep great, wake up around 3 and it's on.. can't shut my mind off, every awful thought pops in my head. Before I know it 2 or 3 hours have passed. Im on day 3 in a row of terrible sleep because of this. The lack of sleep makes my HA and general anxiety during the day worse. It's a vicious cycle.

Anyone have any tried and true ways to shut your mind off and go back to sleep?

[NotDeadYet]

NancyW

Meditation really helps me. It's great for in the moment but I've found that I can't just turn on my mindfulness practice in the middle of the night. It requires daily practice in the daytime in order to get into a healthy rhythm where I can see the benefits at night.

Best Wishes

[glassgirlw]

Hi Nancy. It’s probably not the best method fora good sleep cycle but I keep my iPad on my bedside table. When I wake in the night (which is often) I will read my ebooks on my iPad which usually knocks me back out again lol.

[NancyW]

Thank you for the suggestions, it's 11:28 pm I'm laying in bed with full blown anxiety because this is where I toss and turn all night with horrid thoughts.

I've tried meditation in the past, I feel like because of the intrusive thoughts I can't get to where I need to be to calm down. I will try again.

I do have my phone and will read or listen to videos. Soon as I stop I'm flooded with awful thoughts. Tonight it seems like I'm not going to be able to fall sleep either.

[NoraB]

I fall asleep great, wake up around 3 and it's on.. can't shut my mind off, every awful thought pops in my head. Before I know it 2 or 3 hours have passed. Im on day 3 in a row of terrible sleep because of this. The lack of sleep makes my HA and general anxiety during the day worse. It's a vicious cycle.

Anyone have any tried and true ways to shut your mind off and go back to sleep?

Try listening to a relaxing podcast when you wake up. Or sleep stories. Nothing heavy - just a relaxing voice which will calm your mind. If you feel 'wired' I think it's best to get up and move about to diffuse some of that adrenalin. I've had many a cleaning session at 3am! Once you feel calmer, you can try to go to sleep again. Most of all, don't fear this as fear will keep the cycle going..

[Scass]

Hi Nancy,
I often put on a podcast, there’s a good one at the moment called Calm
Christmas which sends me back off in moments.

When I’m suffering badly like you are now, I tend to just stop trying to fall asleep. As soon as I accept it won’t happen, I tend to drift off.
I also play things like candy crush, which focus the mind and stop me from spiralling too much.


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[NancyW]

I will try Calm, see if that helps.
2 nights ago I fought the urge to cut up veggies for the beef stew I was putting in the crockpot in the morning. The only reason I didn't was I didn't want to wake my husband.

[Scass]

Does your husband suffer too? If he’s anything like mine he’d be back to sleep so quickly you’d want to kick him! Do whatever you think will help you.


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[NancyW]

He does have issues sleeping on occasion but he'll take melatonin and it helps him, it does nothing for me. :-(