How To Sleep Better With Anxiety

A common occurrence to those with anxiety is having difficulty falling asleep and then waking up frequently during the night due to their constant heightened anxiety. In some cases, people become anxious about not having a good night’s sleep and consequently their anxiety hinders their ability to sleep.
Here are some tips on how to maximize your ability to have a great night’s sleep.

Have A Regular Sleep Routine

Get to bed at the same time each night. Your body has a natural sleep cycle and knows how much sleep it requires to fully function. Find out how many hours your body needs, and then try to go to bed and get up at the same time each day.
Take short naps
If you currently find yourself napping during the day, try to keep napping to around 30 minutes. Taking long naps later in the day can make it more difficult for you to fall asleep at night. Try not to nap after 3pm.

Turn Down The Lights In The Evening

By lowering the lights a little before bedtime, the dimmer lights signal your body to start producing melatonin to help you fall asleep.

Limit Caffeine and Alcohol

Try not to consume alcohol or caffeinated beverages before bed. Alcohol in the evenings can help you fall fast asleep initially, however, your body won’t get quality sleep. Caffeine is a stimulant so it may keep you up late at night. Caffeine and alcohol are also diuretics so you possibly will wake up during the night to use the bathroom.

Engage In Calming Activities

Step away from the screen and read, take a shower, meditate, or listen to music. This will help clear your mind from your daily activities and help you relax. Your routine doesn’t have to be lengthy, 10-30 minutes of calming activities can be sufficient.

Use Nightlights

If you wake up during the night and have to use the bathroom, avoid turning on the bathroom light. Your brain associates bright lights with day, and can signal to your body to start waking up. Keep a nightlight on in a hallway and bathroom, so you can navigate your way around without turning on bright lights.

Distracting Sounds

There are numerous nature sounds or New Age music you can find on youtube that I use to distract my mind and help me fall asleep. I also bought a simple portable fan on Amazon that I use when I don’t sleep at home. The constant sound of the fan is extremely helpful in drowning out my anxious thoughts. The portable fan I bought is also battery powered so I can take it anywhere without worrying about being near an outlet.

Write Your Worries

If you’ve tried a lot of different things and still find it difficult to fall asleep due to worrying and being anxious, have a notebook by your bed and write your anxious thoughts. Write down everything that you’re bothered about or things you need to remember the next day so that you’re not bothered about forgetting them.

Getting enough quality sleep is extremely crucial for your body to handle anxiety. So following these techniques can help improve your ability to fall asleep and stay asleep longer.


Wanna help My Anxious World grow? Do your Amazon shopping through my affiliate link!


Tags:

Related posts


5 Comments

  • Taylor Kirk

    This is perfect! I suffer from anxiety horribly! Hopefully with these tips I will get some sleep tonight.

  • Hi, there what a great list! I tend to drink coffee at the wrong times because I’m addicted to it! My wife usually yells at me to grab the decaf during the evening hours. I have found the best thing that works to put me to sleep is to lay on the couch and watch television. The bad thing is that when I get up to go to bed I can’t get back to sleep!

    Thanks

  • Great tips! I found that no tv/phone at least 1 hour before bed works best for me. Pople are not even aware how bad this is for their sleeping habits.

    Cheers Mili

  • JenellBStewart

    Great tips! I do like to drink tea before bed because its very calming but if you have anxiety I would advise reading. Reading is proven to reduce stress better than any other method.

  • Great advice. I’m definitely sharing these! Thanks 🙂

    Pammy – joyfulsource.com

Share your thoughts