Anxiety and Sleep

[YojanaFitbit]

What do you know about anxiety and anxiety disorders? 😣💤

Anxiety disorders are the most common mental health problem around the world. Anxiety is frequently connected to sleeping problems since worry and fear make it harder to fall asleep and stay asleep through the night. 

Insomnia is a common symptom of anxiety disorders. Physically, anxiety disorders can provoke tense muscles, rapid breathing and heartbeat, sweating, trembling, gastrointestinal distress, and fatigue. Not all people with anxiety disorders have the same degree of symptoms or impact from anxiety on their everyday life. 

Some tips to calm anxiety and get better sleep:

• Building healthy sleep habits can make going to bed a more pleasant experience and facilitate a consistent routine to enhance sleep.
• Eliminating sources of sleep disruption like light and noise, and avoiding caffeine and alcohol in the afternoon and evening.
• Deep breathing, mindfulness meditation, and guided imagery are just a few approaches to relaxation that can help put your mind at-ease before bed or if you wake up during the night.

@Baltoscott @AmandaGeorge @Drumbob @ElaineJ27 @alexthecat @JayBees 

Any other tip? Leave your comment below. 🙂👇

[AmandaGeorge]

@Bartfliet - hate to be the bearer of bad news, but maybe fantasy (and sci-fi too) isn't such a good thing to read at bedtime?  The first few chapters are world-building and backstory, but the more you read the more your brain kinda goes "but it doesn't happen like that IRL" then starts whirling around the activity of reality and potentially causing more anxiety.  It's great reading as an escape during the day, I'm not denying that at all, but as you get closer to bedtime, you want your brain to switch off, rather than start whirring.  Maybe something gentle, positive and RL that are short stories rather than a 14 book series that your brain may feel overwhelmed by, even if you've read all the books before?

I read magazine's with short stories or RL stories in them and get through maybe two or three a night.

Totally understand about you working in IT and being surrounded by technology all day, but what about when you get home from work.  I've set the nightlight setting to dull my screen at 7pm every night and my brain kinda goes "OK, must be time for bed soon then" and starts relaxing because it's not surrounded by so much white any more and I'm usually asleep before 9.30pm from a combination of the darker screen and reading those magazine stories and I usually wake up ready for the day too.  It takes a while (as in a couple of weeks rather than a couple of days) for your brain to re-educate itself to your new routine and you will still have the occasional disturbed night, but if you're patient with yourself then it's sooo worth it and you will wake up feeling a lot more rested too.

[Muspirit2]

I sleep for 4 hours solid then the nightmares begin and so vivid.  Babies thrown out of planes while parents watch in horror.  The last one:  I accidentally drop my key fob on the ground on the way to work.  By the time I notice it is when I am leaving and can't find my keys.  I go to my car and it's not there.  I have someone drive me home.  My whole house has been emptied.  Someone said they bought it and have transferred my house into their name.  How did they get in?  My garage door opener was in the car.  I can't find my cats.  My computer is gone along with a list of passwords.  They took everything in one day.  My car, my purse, my house, my antiques and most of all my cats.  Then I see one cat died on the road..probably ran over by my own car.   I wake up wide awake.   These are the nightmares I have.  I  also have one nightmare that continues on and on with the drug cartel who torture, murder, etc.   I am a happy, sane person.  I love getting up each day (Monday through Friday) to get to the pool to swim for 50 minutes and I feel great, ready for the day.  I am a high school secretary and I am cheerful, respectful, nice to everyone each day.  I  eat healthy, go  home, relax and watch sports mostly.  NBA right now with a side of MLB.  People say I must keep all my anxieties inside and they come out in nightmares.  I get mostly 5 hours of sleep a night.  If I go to bed earlier, I get up earlier.   Thoughts?

[YojanaFitbit]

@Bartfliet You work in IT! 😅 This is something that we need to take into account, but nevertheless you still can modify some other things in your life. It's weird that you felt tired waking up that day after sleeping so many hours. What did you eat before bed time? I liked that you call it "ritual" jijij 😁

@AmandaGeorge Thank you for sharing this information, I think we might have to take into consideration for next nights! 

@Muspirit2 Wow, I'm mesmerized with all those scenarios, you do have a lot of types nightmares. Nightmares can become a problem if they persist and interrupt your sleep pattern every night. This can lead to insomnia and difficulty functioning during the day. It might be related with the use of stimulants such as caffeine, alcohol, and certain legal drugs. Good thing is that you mentioned that you swim which is a great type of exercise. I'm sorry that you have to be dealing with this every night. I was reading this article. I hope it can help you.

[Muspirit2]

Thanks.  I think mine is stress and anxiety.  I am not a loud boisterous person.  I keep quiet, do my work but give out a cheerful demeanor.  The stress may be caused by the fact my daughter who keeps moving farther and farther away, has blocked her entire family.  She is our first born, only girl and she has currently our only grandchild.  I have cried forever, playing back over words to see what I did wrong but reading something she did not know I still had access to  (it's blocked now too), she absolutely hated her childhood and her parents and her brother and...but when she was a girl, she was happy, we let her try anything she wanted, etc.. never said a word about being unhappy.  But anyway, I don't drink anything with caffeine.  I don't drink coffee but just decaffeinated tea.  I don't drink alcohol but just a couple on New Year's Eve.  I don't take any drugs.  I am almost 63 and thank God, no need for drugs for health at this time.

[Bartfliet]

@YojanaFitbit  I don't eat anything 2h before going to bed as it's ill-advised. For dinner that evening 3h before going to bed I did have a greasy meal, it was my cheat day. I hope the solution to getting enough sleep isn't eating unhealthy food 😅. 

Sadly it was a one off day...I've using the exact same sleep schedule and sticking to the "ritual" (except for the unhealthy food) I used when I slept 7h+, but the following nights have again been pretty poor sleep. 

[YojanaFitbit]

I totally understand how you feel @Muspirit2, sorry that you have to be dealing with all those thoughts. It's very difficult to know exactly what other people think, ever our children. I'm sure you were a great mother and let me tell you that at some point all moms feel worry and sometimes guilty for not being perfect parents all the time. But perfection doesn't exist, it's very possible that all those feelings are related to your nightmares. The pain of separation can go far beyond simply missing your daughter after she's gone and after reading all that information you might feel overwhelmed. I think that's normal and you will probably need to find a person to talk about this, to vent, to cry, to put it out of your head and have some rest and peace in your soul. And if you think that it's best to talk with a professional, do it. Your health is very important, according to the Anxiety and Depression Association of America, about 40 million people suffer from generalized anxiety disorder, but only a little over a third get treated. Treatment might includes only therapy or medication in some other severe cases. Although anxiety is highly treatable, it can worsen if left untreated. And remember that we can't control what our children think about us (as parents), but we can be there when they need it. With time she will understand what is to be a mother and all the different decisions that as parents we need to take without consulting our children. I send you a big huge!🤗 It's great to know that you're doing everything that you can to be able to sleep at night and have a better life. 

@Bartfliet thank you for reporting that you're still having issues sleeping. But don't worry, keep trying all tips and keep following your sleeping routines. Maybe you will get some great results once you do all this as an habit and your body gets used to do it every day. I really wish you can be able to get some rest and enjoy your nights. Let's keep our fingers crossed for future nights. 🤞😉