Anxiety & Insomnia Together
Anxiety and insomnia often arrive as a matched set, each rolling in to the other, forming habit patterns that can mask their joint nature.
To unravel the anxiety-insomnia connection a change in behaviour status quo is needed.
Redesigning your lifestyle to prioritize restful sleep can have positive effects on anxious fear and worry.
The patterns and habits you will come up against as you work toward change will be persistent so you will need to stay strong and keep going even as you do not yet feel any positive effects for your efforts. They will pay off, but it takes time and consistency to create new habits and patterns.
Your mind will resist changing, but you are stronger than your mind and can learn to control it.
Here’s how to make changes:
Routine
Consistency around sleep is essential for changing the patterns that created the anxious-insomnia connection.
Hormones play a role here, and they thrive on structure and send mixed up messages to your body with inconsistency.
Set your alarm for when you want to wake up each morning and go to bed 8 ½ hours before this every night.
As you are working to create change make yourself a priority and stick to your new routine until it becomes habit.
Inconvenience and temporary discomfort are better than the disruptions caused by anxiety and insomnia.
Environment
Set yourself up for success. Think about things in your present environment that are not conducive to creating new restful and restorative sleep patterns.
Your environment reinforces habits and patterned behaviour 1 around sleep, much in the same way as an addict fresh from rehab who goes back in to their previous friend group and social/emotional habits tends to relapse back into their addiction, you must make changes to your sleep environment.
Remove all electronics from your bedroom – this may mean getting an old-fashioned alarm clock since your phone, computer and tv will all be in another room and turned off.
Ensure your room is adequately dark to encourage your natural circadian rhythm to come back in to alignment.
It may help to tidy your sleep space to reduce a cluttered and chaotic mind – See Marie Kondo for tips
Setting up your space for sleep encourages sleepiness.
Self-Defeating Drinks
Try cutting out completely the following beverages at least at first:
Caffeine can block sleep receptors and even if you feel sleepy you can have difficulty falling and staying asleep.
Limit caffeinated beverages to before lunch, and switch to non-caffeinated ones after mid-day.
Alcohol can make you feel sleepy, but will not allow you to receive the quality of sleep needed to be restful and restorative.
Soda has two problems. The sugar spikes your blood sugar and messes with your hormones, and the carbonation adds the air element into your system, which according to Ayurvada can increase racing thoughts and anxiety. 2
Best to stick with plain cool water for the time being.
Exercise
Exercise can improve sleep quality *, but can also be stimulation and contribute to insomnia if it is too close to bed time. Try and limit exercise within an hour of bedtime
Ideally try incorporating more cardio-based exercise earlier in the day and gentle stretching or yoga later.
Some exercise regardless of the time of day may be more beneficial that doing none if the only time you have to exercise is later in the day.
Yin style and Restorative yoga, or a slow paced walk may be good late day practices to incorporate.
Meditation
Meditation as a mindfulness practice can support the parasympathetic (rest & digest) nervous system, helping to instill a sense of calm.
Guided meditations can be used to direct attention toward particular issues, such as anxiety, insomnia, as well as underlying issues of self-confidence, compassion and self-love.
I like listening to these with headphones as I go to sleep because otherwise I won’t make time for this practice. You could do this outside of your bedroom or make this an electronic exception. Just make sure the screen is not visible as you don’t want to be impacted by stimulating blue light.
Herbs
Herbs have been used for centuries by many cultures for among other things, promoting a sense of calmness, wellbeing and to increase restful sleep.
Herbs can be prepared in a number of ways, but I find teas or tinctures the easiest for anxiety and insomnia. If you are prone to wake at night to pee try using tinctures to avoid excess water before sleep.
Some of my favorite herbs for anxiety and insomnia are, lemon balm, tulsi, ashwaganda, California poppy, valerian and kava. Chamomile tea is a classic sleepy time beverage and warming liquids can comfort anxiousness*.
CBD oil is another herbal preparation that can help quite the mind.
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