Anxiety
and Insomnia
Bethany Jordin - 1/10/2009
-
A Few Facts About Anxiety and Insomnia
There is a vicious truth about anxiety and insomnia, they both feed upon the other and only serve to make the
symptoms of the other worse. An inability to get a proper amount of sleep will impair your ability to reason
through those moments of fear, panic, and anxiety. This means that you are poorly equipped to face your fears or
use reason to work through them when they present themselves. It is a self fulfilling prophecy in many ways. You
lose sleep worrying about a certain event or situation. When the time comes, you are operating at less than your
full potential and end up sabotaging yourself as a result of your fears and lack of sleep. So, how do you prevent
anxiety and insomnia from taking over?
Avoid Stimulants
Caffeine, sugar, and other things that are designed to act as stimulants are a good idea to avoid during the period
prior to a planned stressful event. If public speaking is your trigger then you want to avoid tanking up on coffee
in the days ahead of the event. This will enhance the odds of your getting a good night's sleep or at the very
least help you stay asleep once you fall asleep, which is another common problem.
Change Your Sleep Pattern
If this is becoming a recurring problem in your life, it is time to make some changes in your bedtime routine.
Consider going to bed an hour earlier each day. Instead of tossing and turning, take a little time to listen to
some soothing music, meditate, or practice yoga before turning in. Try taking a nice long bath at night and
relaxing instead of a hurried shower in the morning. Simple changes like this can make a huge difference when it
comes to reducing anxiety and insomnia in your life. When you reduce one, chances are the other will follow.
Talk to Your Physician About Sleep Medication
In years gone by there was a prevailing fear of forming a dependency on sleep medications. Modern science and
herbal medications provide a nice selection of medications that are non habit forming that can help you fall asleep
faster, stay asleep, or some combination of the two. This means that you can remove the insomnia from anxiety and
insomnia and find other constructive ways to address your anxiety issues. If you leave the insomnia unchecked, you
will find that your anxiety is going to grow over time and become a driving problem in your life.
The combination of anxiety and insomnia may seem insurmountable but when you address the insomnia first, you are in
a better position to combat the anxiety issues and may be well on your way to eliminating them
completely.
About the author:
Bethany Jordin is an Information Technology professional and aspiring writer who was clinically diagnosed with SAD
(Social Anxiety Disorder) in 2007.
Source: http://www.naturalantidepressants.info
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