Does anxiety affect your sleep?

[Lou 1]

Just wondering if anyones sleep is affected by anxiety.

I have weird things happen to me in my sleep - i have very vivid dreams and also sometimes i wake during the night and i will still be very sleepy but for a split second i see weird things..
Like a strange shaped object, or stange lines on the walls.. I mange to fully wake myself up and then they disappear.
Sometimes when im waking up / falling asleep i hear strange sounds too, i have also been experiencing sleep paralysis.

I saw a neurologist about this and he said there were Hypnagogig halluciantions (when falling asleep) and hypnopompic hallucinations (when waking up)
He said that they can be much more frequent when you are anxious or stressed.
does anyone else experiece this or is it just me?

x


(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypnagogic_hallucination)

[Hazel B]

Yep, I get images, ghosts, animals, sci-fi aliens on my bed, you name it. I've always been a lucid dreamer but since anxiety started I get fab happy dreams or awful nightmares and keep waking up a lot.
Not sure if it's the meds (Propranolol) or anxiety, but I'm coping with it now, it can be unnerving.

[Lou 1]

Thats what its like for me!! Strange you should mention the meds because mine seemed to start when i was taking Propranolol.. however i've stopped taking them now and im still getting sleep disturbances.

[Hazel B]

I'm hoping to cut down on the Prop soon, maybe it's a mix of the meds and the anxiety?
I forgot to say that I also sometimes wake up talking to the images in my room & it's my voice that's woken me up! Good thing I'm not afriad of the dark!

[stressbunny]

I jerk hands and arms, legs, feet...everything really. It really upsets me :weep: