Anxiety and Insomnia
People who suffer from anxiety and panic disorders will often have trouble sleeping. Anxiety and insomnia commonly occur together as anxiety can make it difficult for a person to sleep and lack of sleep can make a person's anxiety symptoms worse. Insomnia can either be a cause of anxiety or a symptom of it, which is the same as saying that anxiety can be either a cause or a symptom of insomnia.
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Types of Insomnia
There are three types of insomnia:
Early Insomnia: This where you go to bed and just can't fall asleep and end up tossing and turning. If you can't fall asleep make sure that you aren't taking anything stimulant such as caffeine late at night that might keep you awake. So no cups of tea or coffee near bedtime.
Middle Insomnia: This is where you wake up frequently during the night. A person who wakes up with middle insomnia will often feel anxious immediately upon awakening. Middle insomnia is often experienced by people when they are suffering from anxiety or depression.
Late Insomnia: This is where you are able to get much of your night’s sleep but wake up too early and don't feel refreshed from your night’s sleep and may feel anxious. This is likely to have the same underlying symptoms as middle insomnia such as anxiety or depression.
This website is all about overcoming anxiety and panic disorders but insomnia can play such a major rule in exacerbating your panic or anxiety that it's important to take a closer look at this topic. Curing your insomnia is a big step to helping you recover from anxiety especially if your insomnia is chronic.
Some people suffer from panic attacks during their sleep. These are known as nocturnal panic attacks. These will occur during middle insomnia and cause the person to wake up in the middle of a panic attack.
If you are lying in bed and you can't get to sleep you eventually end getting very frustrated as you will just end up thinking about getting to sleep and nothing else. The best thing to do when you have anxiety and insomnia is to do something to distract yourself from your restless thoughts by simply getting out of bed and doing something else for a little while before returning to bed. It's great to get some fresh air in this situation as it calms the mind. So maybe go and sit out in the garden for a few minutes or take a quick stroll. You should find that you are a lot calmer when you return to bed.
How you go about solving your insomnia problem should depend on whether it’s a symptom or a cause of your anxiety. If it’s a symptom of anxiety it’s recommended that you focus on what is making your anxious. There are some great self help programs for overcoming anxiety such as The Linden Method. If on the other hand your anxiety is a symptom of your insomnia then it’s recommended that you should focus on solving your sleeping problems.
If you suffer from anxiety and insomnia solving one of the problems will often automatically fix the other.