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Anxiety induced insomnia

Posted , 4 users are following.

jane13266
jane13266

I used to be a sound sleeper and then something happened for me to lose my precious sleep. I faced a situation in life where I became hyperanxious and stopped sleeping at night due to worry and tension. This happened for maybe a month or two. I started drinking coffee (I don't drink either tea or coffee) to stay alert during the day. Then I slowly started to get a grip on myself, but sadly, the sleep was not coming back. Now the situation is, when I become calm, I get sleep like I want it to last forever, no amount of sleep seems to be enough. When I get anxious (unfortunately people don't mind making harsh/unkind comments about my "laziness"wink, I can't sleep beyond 5 hours. Come what may, I wake up after 5 hours, have a hard time sleeping for 1,1.5 or may be 2 hours sometimes and then I sleep for 1.5-2 hours, I end up waking late, getting late to work, get acerbic comments from colleagues/manager/husband and the cycle repeats. I am so fed up of this situation. I feel a rage, followed by self-pity, shame, all sorts of negative emotions. Don't know how I can get my sleep back

0 likes, 6 replies

6 Replies

  • Marioscy
    Marioscy jane13266

    Posted

    My only friendly suggestion go to a good psychologist and maybe a good psychiatrist. 

    Unfortunately i am also in some similar situation and i am trying to fix it but is a slow process 

  • NECKBONE
    NECKBONE jane13266

    Posted

    I would stop letting sleep dictate your schedule.  It's unfair that people are saying things about you like that because I know that it seems impossible to deal with the day when you haven't slept well. But about the worst thing you can do for yourself psychologically is let it affect you to the point that you stop maintaining a normal schedule. You and I both know you aren't lazy, that's not even a concern.  But you shouldn't let poor sleep keep you from getting up at the same time every day and make it to work on time. Get up at the time you are supposed to get up and resolve yourself not to let a poor night of sleep dictate how you live your life.  As you probably know by now, that extra hour is not going to make you feel any better.

    Also, 5 hours doesn't sound terrible. It's not ideal but if you sleep for 5 hours, then are able to go back to sleep for another 1 1/2 to 2 hours, you're not doing too bad. When my insomnia was at its worst, I got an average of 3 and there are many cases here much worse than mine.

    If I could tell you anything about how to get back on track it would be these few things:

    1. Get on some kind of a schedule.  Stay up later than you are right now and get up the same time every day.  I would try to stay in the bed around 6 hours total if you are getting 5 and then waking up. Gradually extend that (maybe 15 minutes a week) once you are sleeping the full 6 hours.  The idea is to get back into the habit of sleeping one continuous block of time while you are in bed, for however long that is.  Once that habit is formed, make it a longer period of time incrementally.

    2. Get some exercise every day.  Just 20 minutes, nothing too strenuous. It helps burn off some stress hormones

    3. Cool off your anxiety. Medication and meditation are what worked for me.

    Most of all, don't make insomnia into a monster that you can't possibly face.  The more you build the problem up in your mind and allow it to affect your life, the more it creates anxiety for you. I did that myself and it made the problem worse and unnecessarily prolonged the time it took me to fix it.

    Good luck

    • jane13266
      jane13266 NECKBONE

      Posted

      I see a drastic difference in my physical, mental well-being after this insomnia episode. My only problem is why am I not getting my sleep back? I can't exercise because of it in the morning for obvious reasons, and if I exercise during the evening, I can't sleep. And trust me, when I just kept sleep aside and did exercise/diet in the hope of a better sleep, the results were disastrous. I gained weight like hell. Only when the stress lessened and I started getting better(compared to earlier insomnia) sleep, things kind of reached a plateau. I desperately want it back.

  • andybb
    andybb jane13266

    Posted

    I have the same problems you have. A word of advice: don't let things bring you down. You will get better. Just hang on. Try to do some exercise, drink plenty of water and diversion is the key. Please let us know how things turn out for you.

    Btw, I don't use meds and seem to function just fine.

    • jane13266
      jane13266 andybb

      Posted

      Yes, the key is to not to give in to what people say. Anxiety is itself a disease. I guess I had too much mental baggage. What I did learn is not to get into things that will destroy my peace. Be more principled and disciplined.
  • andybb
    andybb jane13266

    Posted

    You are right Jane. Mental discipline is the key. Stay strong.
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