Sleep is as important for good health as diet and exercise. Good sleep improves your brain performance, mood, and health. Not getting enough quality sleep regularly raises the risk of many diseases and disorders. These range from heart disease and stroke to obesity and dementia.
According to Dr. Maiken Nedergaard and her colleagues, the brain has a drainage system that removes toxins during sleep. “When we sleep, the brain totally changes function,” she explains. “It becomes almost like a kidney, removing waste from the system". Furthermore, Dr. Kenneth Wright, Jr., a sleep researcher at the University of Colorado writes that, "Everything from blood vessels to the immune system uses sleep as a time for repair" and continues, "There are certain repair processes that occur in the body mostly, or most effectively, during sleep. If you don’t get enough sleep, those processes are going to be disturbed.”
Courtesy of NIH News in Health 2021 / 4 'Good Sleep for Good Health'
According to Sleep Foundation (sleepfoundation.org) healthy adults need at least 7 hours of sleep per night. Babies, young children, and teens need even more sleep to enable their growth and development. Deciding how much sleep you need means considering your overall health, daily activities, and typical sleep patterns.
When you are getting poor quality and duration of sleep regularly, your physical and mental health can suffer. You may experience:
When we experience situations in life that make us feel anxious, e.g., relationship or family issues, health concerns, grief, loss, work related problems, and more, it is not surprising that this can affect our usual sleep and eating routines. In fact, appetite loss and symptoms of insomnia are two highly common symptoms brought on by anxiety. When we're anxious a number of changes occur in our brains and bodies and these changes are known as the fight/flight response. Worrying and anxious thoughts create an adrenalin rush which triggers this response.
These changes affect the mind and body's ability to rest and sleep. In fact, when we're in fight or flight mode, that's the last thing it will want you to do!
So, anxiety can make it difficult for someone to rest, fall, and stay asleep, and can lead to Insomnia. Commonly, a cycle forms where anxiety leads to a lack of adequate sleep, and a lack of adequate sleep creates further anxiety.
Sleep anxiety, also known as Somniphobia, is created when we have a fear or worry about not being able to fall asleep, stay asleep or fall back to sleep. Consequently, the sufferer becomes anxious they won't get the rest they need, and overthinking, intrusive thoughts and sleep stress can begin. Someone experiencing sleep anxiety may also be fearful of something bad happening while they are asleep (see list below). This can be particularly pronounced in individuals with panic disorder or obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD).
Anxiety feeds the insomnia, and insomnia feeds the anxiety.
People with generalized anxiety disorder (GAD), panic disorder, or social anxiety often experience heightened worry in many areas of life, including sleep. The fear of being unable to fall asleep or waking up during the night can trigger a vicious cycle of anxiety that makes sleep even more elusive.
People with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) or a history of trauma may experience sleep anxiety due to:
Sleep anxiety may develop in individuals who suffer from circadian rhythm disorders, such as delayed sleep phase syndrome or shift work sleep disorder. These conditions cause difficulty in maintaining a regular sleep-wake cycle, leading to frustration and anxiety about getting enough rest.
Experiencing frightening events related to sleep, such as a choking incident while asleep or witnessing a loved one have a health emergency at night, can create a fear of sleep. These traumatic experiences can leave lasting associations with bedtime, causing anxiety.
Sleep Like a Log strongly recommends engaging in counselling if you have had an adverse or traumatic experience which could be triggering this anxiety.
When you have sleep anxiety, you may experience many symptoms, including:
Cognitive effects:
Physical effects:
Emotional effects:
Behavioural effects:
Nighttime Anxiety is different from Sleep Anxiety, and although the symptoms are often the same, the root cause is different. Nighttime anxiety is caused by daily stressors and worries about, e.g., work, finances, relationships, health, family and the future. These can lead to symptoms of anxiety, stress and even panic throughout the day, and continue through to bedtime.
Causes or Triggers of Nighttime Anxiety
When you have nighttime anxiety, you may experience many symptoms, including:
Cognitive effects:
Physical effects:
Emotional effects:
Anxiety and sleep are closely connected. By improving the quality of your sleep, you can help with feelings of anxiety, and vice versa.
The No.1 piece of advice that Sleep Like a Log can offer is:
Take the pressure off falling asleep!
You cannot MAKE yourself fall asleep. You will fall asleep when the you take the pressure off yourself; when you relax and are not bothered exactly when sleep decides to arrive. Sleep is a cunning little minx.
It's important to get help and support if you are experiencing sleep or nighttime anxiety. Book an appointment with your GP or healthcare provider to talk about your symptoms, so that the symptoms can be alleviated sooner rather than later.
There are also many things you can do to help reduce these symptoms yourself.
Please see below.
It is VITAL to remember that you should only go to bed when you are tired.
But if you are tired, and anxiety is stopping you from switching off, then you could try:
Don't obsess about having a strict bedtime routine, it just adds to the pressure!
Also, before bed, avoid any activity which upsets you or maintains and provokes your anxiety and fight/flight mode. Try to avoid:
Lifestyle changes
During your day, there are many things you can do to help yourself reduce anxiety and improve sleep:
If you don't fall asleep
1. noticing the thought (because it is only a thought)
2. let it float by.
Do NOT engage with it.
READ our SLEEP HYGIENE page...
If you continually struggle to get good quality sleep, book an appointment with your GP or healthcare provider. They will be able to decipher why this is happening and help you resolve any issues. They may ask you to keep a sleep diary for several weeks. This is a daily log of your sleep habits. It can help identify things that might make it harder for you to fall asleep or stay asleep.
Counselling can help you work through underlying issues that may be causing your anxiety. With the help of a professional, experienced counsellor, you will be able to start your journey towards resolving these issues.
In the UK, your GP can put you on a waiting list for a short-term, CBT therapist, or refer you to longer-term therapy through the NHS. However, due to long waiting times, you might like to source a private therapist.
Our qualified and experienced counsellors offer short-term and long-term therapeutic support, tailored to your unique needs.
Through one-to-one sessions via video or messaging services, we’ll help you develop practical strategies, explore underlying causes, and provide valuable resources to support your well-being. Whether you need to ease anxious thoughts or restore restful sleep, or both, we are here to help you take meaningful steps toward a healthier, more balanced life.
If you have experienced adverse events such as: abuse, trauma or long-term family dysfunction, you may need long-term help and support.
If however, you are simply looking for tools, tips and coping mechanisms to help you manage your current anxiety, then short-term help & support would be appropriate.
We will help you find the right therapeutic path forward for you.
Links to Private Therapist Directories Outside the UK
Find a Psychotherapist in the US:
Find a Counsellor in Canada:
Good Therapy: https://www.goodtherapy.org/therapists/canada
We have collated a list of interesting research, blog posts & articles
about bedtime anxiety and more
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