Tips for Sleeping When Anxious?

[Jeffro]

Hello!

Been feeling better over the past week which is good news, anxiety seems to have been triggered by girlfriend moving in! (seems crazy that such a small thing can trigger such an intense reaction but change has always been a bad one for me) as we are settling in i seem to be improving, still far from 100% but exercise, betablockers all combined with some positivity seems to be helping.

Trouble now is I seem to putting a massive amount of importance on getting a good nights kip, and yep you guessed it i do exactly the opposite! lots of adrenaline and negative thoughts, "you need to sleep, you will feel awful if you dont sleep" etc etc, so frustrating and in turn makes me worry and anxious about sleep! so stupid but so tricky to get past sometimes, and im worried lack of sleep will hinder my recovery.

I am taking 10mg of amitryptalin (must have spelt that wrong) which helps a bit but was wondering if anyone else has similar prob and if there is anything they can suggest which will help? herbal remedies supplements or just general advice, think im driving my girlfriend mental with the tossing and turning!!

Thanks guys
Jeff

[Vanilla Sky]

Change your mind set to " well if i don't sleep it's no big deal , my body will sleep when it needs to " It will not hinder your recovery. If you have trouble dropping of , give yourself a time limit like eg.. if im still not sleeping in half an hour , i will get up and read . And do it , get up and read . Take the pressure of yourself by saying you MUST sleep , our bodies are amazing and will take care of our sleep pattern more than we know. Have you ever woken up and thought , i havent slept enough and you think you feel awful... then you realise that actually you did sleep longer than you thought ? It's all drummed into us we should have 7 to 8 hours sleep a night etc etc . What about new mums that cope on very little sleep.. they manage somehow .
It's funny because when i was on amitriptiline , i slept well every night and did.
n't want to come of it incase i couldnt sleep .. but i did .
Good luck , take the pressure of and remember you are in a new situation now with your girlfriend so of course it will take a bit of getting used to
Paige x

[Jeffro]

Thanks Paige,

I was really anxious last night, worried about sleep etc, went to bed tense and full of adrenaline, i did what you said though and just chilled myself out, told myself that i will be fine even without sleep, just to relax and rest and stop thinking of it as life or death! ended up dropping off for a couple of hours, woke up with loads of adrenaline again so i got up, read, meditated and tried again, got a few more decent hours after that so I feel ok today.

Thanks for your advice, I was getting so worked up thinking it was such a serious issue and that it would make my anxiety worse, i just need to take a step back and realize that is nonsense and just me attaching a worry to my anxious feelings. You are right my body will rest when it really needs to, its amazing how catastrophic and scary anxiety can make things seem when your anxious!

jeff

[london]

get a good book it works god bless

[bamnesia]

Hi Jeff

I find that what helps me is a little meditation playing in the background. You can choose to focus on what the person is saying and it progressively relaxes you. If you are still unable to sleep after that, some relaxing music may help.

A really really good site is Mediation Oasis which is run by Mary and Richard Maddux. Mary has the most wonderfully soothing voice that puts me at ease, and the podcasts are free on the website. Most of her mediations can be done lying down so perfect for the bedtime.

Here's the link to the podcasts: <a href="http://www.meditationoasis.com/podcast/listen-to-podcast/">http://www.meditationoasis.com/podcast/listen-to-podcast/</a>

You can try "Deep Rest" for bed time though many others I have found useful. I hope this helps you get some rest. If you don't find them suitable, maybe other meditation CDs can help you. They help take you out of the frantic thoughts in your head to focus on relaxing and letting go.

Best,
Wendy

[Jeffro]

Thanks Guys!

Got 10 hours kip last night so thanks for all the tips!! just doing the stereotypical thing and obsessively worrying about something which really shouldnt warrant a second thought! normally a good sleeper so get a bit freaked out about losing sleep. Amazing how every time i go through a patch of bad anxiety I seem to find a new worry to obsess about!

jeff