Anxiety Insomnia: How to Cope when Stress Keeps You Awake

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Anxiety Insomnia: How to Cope when Stress Keeps You Awake

Monday, January 26th, 2009 Subscribe To Our Feed

Do you suffer from anxiety insomnia? If your worries are keeping you awake, you can overcome them and get a good night’s sleep. It’s important to take action as soon as possible however, because insomnia can become a habit.

Everyone has the occasional sleepless night, especially before a big event. If you’re giving a major presentation the next day, or even are looking forward to a happy event like your vacation, it’s hard to get to sleep. However, chronic insomnia, when difficulty in sleeping is a regular event, occurs for ten per cent of the population.

The challenge with insomnia is that the more you try to go to sleep, the more wakeful you become — you can’t force sleep. You can however prepare for it, and make sleep more likely.

For long term insomnia prevention, ensure that you get into a nightly routine which encourages healthy sleep. Remove any distractions from your bedroom, including your TV and computer, for example, and don’t exercise or watch an exciting movie in the last couple of hours before bedtime.

The Relaxation Response: Take Charge of Your Stress

To deal with your current insomnia, you need to learn how to completely relax your body, so that you feel as relaxed and limp as cooked spaghetti.

Relaxing your body is vital, because to relax your mind, you need to start with your body. If your body is totally relaxed, it’s impossible to feel stress. Therefore, develop a daily relaxation practice, in which you completely relax your body, one muscle group at a time. You can find books and tapes which will help you to learn the “relaxation response”.

Slowing Your Mind With a Body Scan

Once you’re in bed at night, settle down, on your back, and take several long, slow, deep breaths. Close your eyes, and relax your eyelids. Now, starting with your toes, relax every part of your body in turn. Just become aware of the body part, and say “relax…”

You can start your body scan in this way. “Left toes… relax… left foot, relax… left ankle, completely relax…”

Gradually, taking as much time as you need, relax every part of your body.

You’ll usually find that before you complete your body scan, you’re asleep. If you’re still awake when you’ve relaxed your scalp, start again with the left toes.

A nightly body scan, combined with practicing daily physical relaxation, cures anxiety insomnia. Try it tonight — you’ll get a restful night’s sleep.