How to Treat Sleep Anxiety

If you have read the first article — Why is sleep anxiety dangerous? — here is the follow-up!

Nobody wants to deal with anxiety at night (or to wake up with anxiety, for that matter). That is why we have gathered a few solutions below that you can put into practice for a peaceful night’s sleep.

Here are some solutions for sleep anxiety

1. Therapy. When the old sleep apps do not deliver results, cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) is “remarkably effective” in treating sleep anxiety, says Dr Robbins. “A large part of CBT for insomnia (CBTI) focuses on reconfiguring how a patient thinks about sleep and cultivating their sense of self-efficacy,” she says. In a CBT session, a licensed mental health professional will help you rewrite your negative thoughts into more constructive beliefs. In CBTI, “patients will learn how to avoid the environmental factors that trigger anxiety before bed, change their negative thoughts about sleep and eventually learn biofeedback to regulate their breathing, relax their muscles, lower their heart rate and focus their attention,” says Dr Hafeez.
2. A pep talk. Depending on how severe your sleep anxiety is, you could do a version of this yourself whenever you feel the first flickers of anxiety appear. “Notice the way you talk to yourself about sleep,” says Dr Robbins. Are you telling yourself you will never be able to work out how to calm down at night? “If so, try reversing that and, as bedtime approaches, tell yourself: ‘Hey, I can do this!’ when it comes to your ability to fall asleep and have a good, restful night,” says Dr Robbins.
3. Put your phone in another room. Yes, really. This time, really. “Keeping all electronics in another room is an excellent way not only to reduce stimulation from digital media, but also to reduce the light those devices emit, which can lower melatonin levels and lead to restless sleep,” says Dr Navab.

Be honest with yourself: were those 45 minutes spent on TikTok, or searching for the perfect gift or holiday, really worth it? “Looking at your phone ties you to today’s reality, which is not helpful at all,” says Dr Navab. “Instead, keep a book to hand to transport you to another place that lets you think about someone else’s dilemmas rather than your anxious sleep.”

4. Create a bedtime routine. If you cannot talk yourself into a calmer state before bed, a proper bedtime routine can help you get there. “It is not possible to go from our energetic, productivity-focused days to sleep in an instant,” says Dr Robbins. “Sleep takes time.” She recommends allowing at least 30 minutes to wind down.

“My favourite way to unwind is to take a shower, do my skincare routine, meditate for 10 minutes, then read a book until I am ready to fall asleep,” says Kelly Smith, a yoga and meditation teacher.

5. Meditate. Meditation is not for everyone. If you enjoy it, or at least like the idea of trying it, sleep meditations are remarkably effective. “With a regular meditation practice — around 10 minutes a day for at least eight weeks — the amygdala, which is the brain’s centre for pain, stress and worry, begins to shrink,” explains Smith. This means your response to stressors and anxiety triggers shrinks too. “At the same time, meditation helps strengthen the hypothalamus, which is one of the brain’s key centres for sleep,” she says.

Smith suggests starting with a guided sleep meditation. “Listening to a meditation can give you something to focus on other than your anxiety, and can send you to sleep,” she says. There are dozens of great meditation apps that can help you get started.

6. Try a breathing exercise. Breathing exercises are also surprisingly effective at helping you fall asleep. “If you wake in the middle of the night, the 4-7-8 breathing method is a fantastic way to take your body out of fight-or-flight mode, because it will bring on a relaxed, parasympathetic response,” says Dr Navab. To do it: breathe in deeply for four seconds, hold for seven seconds and breathe out slowly for eight seconds.
7. Practise muscle relaxation. Another powerful technique: progressive muscle relaxation. “Definitely one of my favourites,” says Dr Breus. “It is good because it teaches people the difference between when they are tense and when they are relaxed.”

The premise is simple. Starting from the top of your head and working down to your toes, you progressively tense and relax your muscles while lying in bed. “It is very relaxing and tends to send people to sleep,” says Dr Breus.

8. Go for a walk. If all these zen exercises are not for you, consider physical exercise. “There is almost nothing better for reducing stress levels than physical exercise,” says Dr Breus. It does not have to be intense — a 25-minute walk an hour before bed can help you calm those anxious thoughts.
9. Keep to a schedule. There is a reason sleep experts recommend sticking to a consistent bedtime and wake time to maintain good sleep hygiene. Not only does this stop your internal clock getting confused, but “having a habit you have control over will create stability and willpower that can reduce anxiety,” says Dr Navab. “Anxiety is often linked to a sense of control, so creating a routine of waking at the same time every morning will reinforce that command.”
10. Do not check the clock. If you find yourself awake in the middle of the night, avoid the temptation to look at the clock. It does not help you at all. How long have I been awake? Do I have to get up that early? “If you can avoid looking at the clock, you will avoid the additional anxiety,” says Dr Breus. Seeing the time is likely to make you panic and try even harder to fall asleep. “Nobody in the history of time has ever thought they would be able to get back to sleep,” he remarks. “Trying very hard is the opposite of what we want your brain to do.”
11. Stay in bed. It is perfectly normal to wake in the middle of the night (usually somewhere between 1 and 3 a.m., as your core body temperature begins to rise after falling all night). Most people fall asleep again within moments. If you do not manage it, do not panic. Unless you need the bathroom, stay in bed, says Dr Breus. “To bring you back into a state of unconsciousness, your heart rate needs to be 60 or below,” he explains. Going from lying down to standing and walking will raise your heart rate, so avoid that if you can.

Even if you cannot fall asleep for a while, just lying there with your eyes closed is helpful. This is called non-sleep deep rest. “It is not as restorative as sleep, but if you do it for an hour, it is worth about 20 minutes of sleep,” says Dr Breus. Understanding this can help lower anxiety and allow the natural sleep process to take over again.

Source: Glamour