So far we have addressed poor sleeping habits such as not waking at the same time each day, using the bedroom for activities other than sleeping, the trouble with lights in the bedroom, and the emotional effects of a messy bedroom. You can find the links to the first two articles in this series below. Today we look at the issues of anxiety and stress in sleep disorders.
5. Worry and anxiety and their effect on sleep
We all intuitively know that anxiety and worry are professional sleep killers. Yet we can’t always avoid worry and anxiety in our lives, so how do we deal with worry and get a good night’s sleep?
One of the ways that we commonly deal with issues that are troubling us is to distract ourselves from them through the use of work, entertainment and socializing. These activities may work up to a point during the day, but it is impossible to keep up such a regime of distraction 24 hours a day. So it’s not uncommon to feel reasonable during the day only to find that your demons arrive in full force just as you’re trying to get to sleep at night after a hard day of metaphorically running away.
It’s amazing what turning out the lights can do to your peace of mind. Suddenly everything that happened that day or even last year or ten years ago decides to take up center stage while you’re trying to ease your tired and stressed body into blissful oblivion.
If this sounds like you, then you have several options open to you. Identify the problem and try to resolve it. If you can’t resolve the problem on your own, try enlisting the help of family and friends. If this is unsuitable, or it is in fact your family that is the source of the problem, or alternatively, the expertise of your friends is not sufficient to be of assistance, then you may need to seek professional advice from a counselor.
Meditation can also be of great assistance in calming a troubled mind. Getting into a regular habit of 15 minutes of meditation morning and night can make a significant difference to your overall stress levels.
Another solution is to have an official “worry hour” during the day, when you set aside time to think about the problem that is worrying you, perhaps even write about it, and try to contain the compulsive worry to this time zone. Then, as worries occur during the day and night, you can tell yourself: “I will think about that during my official worry time.” This is a very effective means of restricting the time spend worrying over issues in your life. However, it must be practice regularly so that it becomes a habit.
Next article, more sleeping tips.
Contact Beth McHugh for further assistance regarding this issue.
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