Worried I’ll die from lack of sleep

Have you tried a sleep clinic? They ask you to sleep over night in their sleep study area hooked up to monitors to help access better sleep . I listen to gentle sleep stories with earphones on I Pad to stop the worry and help shut down the thoughts helps eventually.

As someone who has suffered from chronic insomnia for several years, stayed up several nights in a row, visited several unhelpful doctors and taken several different medications, I completely understand where you're coming from. In-fact, I lie there pretty much every night and worry about the exact same thing. I even have a sleep study to be scheduled soon, which only increases my worries.

I mean, the truth is, you have to sleep to live, of course, so it's only natural to become anxious when you are sleep deprived. Like I said, if I had a dollar for every time I worried about dying from insomnia, I'd be a multimillionaire. It's so easy to worry. It's probably one of the easiest things to do, especially regarding health. Also, (at least for me) the more exhausted you are, the more likely you are to become anxious, especially concerning sleep, of course. I know how dreadful it feels to be lying there alone in the dark, with just you and your rapid racing thoughts, trying to force yourself to sleep, anxiously glancing at the clock every few minutes and trying to time exactly how much sleep you could get if you went to sleep right then. Trust me, I really do know how scary that is, and I am so sorry that you've been experiencing this, no one deserves it.

However, just try to remember that, even though dying from a lack of sleep is technically possible, it's extremely rare. Sometimes, they even train military recruits to be able to stay awake for several days, and they're usually fine. Exhausted, I'm sure, but still alive. And I think the current record for the longest anyone's stayed awake is like, 11 days, if I'm not mistaken. So you'll be just fine, I promise. Your body can handle much more physical exertion than you would think possible. Also, at the worst case scenario, if you haven't slept in a few days straight at all, then you could go to the emergency room and you could probably get them to give you something that would ease your mind and put you to sleep. So, even though insomnia feels incredibly isolating, just know that you truly are not alone, I can promise you that much. Like I said, I've suffered from this for a long time, and I have thought those exact same thoughts countless times, so I know exactly how you feel. But listen, I promise you'll be alright. You can overcome this. You're not going to die. There are plenty of people who are more than ready to help you in extremely scary situations, trust me, I've been in enough of those to know.

Whenever you start to notice those thoughts creeping into your mind, try to distract yourself. I know it's much easier said than done, but it really does help, even just temporarily. You could listen to music, read something, watch TV, draw or write, etc. Also, you can always message me if you have something on your mind and can't sleep, or you simply just need someone to talk to. Sometimes that's really all you need.

I really hope this helped ease your mind, my friend.

May God bless you and protect you.

i have this fear too. we will be okay though, i promise

We are told that no one dies from lack of sleep itself but perhaps from an accident associated with it like falling asleep when driving