Does anybody else experience very fragmented sleep because of anxiety?

[FordingTheWaters]

I know I've been asking a lot of questions on here but I am going through a lot. I have been mulling going out and buying an oximeter to monitor my oxygen intake while I sleep tonight. My sleeping has been awfully fragmented. I keep waking up every 45 minutes to an hour, and I am having a lot of dreams during those times I am asleep.
I can sleep for 20 minutes and have a strong dream. That's means I'm literally jumping right into REM sleep and that can't be good. Has this happened to anybody else?

I suspect a sleep disorder like sleep apnea or narcolepsy, but I would really feel much better if it was because of the anxiety. Narcolepsy for one is incurable. Also, I did go for 8 days with almost no sleep last week, so maybe I'm just very fatigued yet keep waking up because I'm so anxious as well. I don't know. I guess I would feel a lot better if I knew that someone else who doesn't have a full blown sleep disorder is going through this and that the sleep will normalize when anxiety goes down.

Should i just go get that oximeter before I go to bed tonight? At least if I find my oxygen levels don't change during the night, I could sleep better knowing that, and if they do change, I could more easily get my dr. to refer me to a sleep specialist.

Thanks for your help

[alankay]

Nacolepsy is usually a daytime sudden sleep deal. Do you snoore? Anyway yeah anxiety and slep don't coexist well. Alankay

[laurandisorder]

I think it's pretty much a random thing - I have always had very vivid dreams - I didn't do too well on Zoloft - maybe serotonin had something to do with that.

I also experience sleep paralysis quite often - monthly at least and I have sleep 'falls' every night. That feeling where you think you're falling and snap wide awake. This also happens in particularly violent dreams; if I get 'killed' or have an impact scenario (a crash) in my dreams, I wake up suddenly with my pulse rate in the stratosphere, sweating and gasping for breath. But this has always happened to me, even before anxiety. And the anxiety has made it neither better nor worse.

[nf1234]

Yes sleep has been the one thing I have struggled with even with my anxiety almost cured. I did a sleep study and showed no sleep apnea or problems with oxygen, just poor sleep quality. I really would not worry about an actual medical problem. I have a few things you should try that have helped me. Sleepytime EXTRA tea, Natural Calm Magnesium, 5-HTP or Tryptophan, Melatonin, Ashwagahanda (Not Sure I spelled it correctly), Holy Basil, Theanine, Gaba, Glycine, Taurine, Inositol, or True Calm by Now Foods. The easiest would be the sleepytime extra tea and then the magnesium. There is most likely nothing wrong with you. Your mind just stays anxious when your sleeping since it has been anxious all day. It is trying to process all the thoughts of the day and is giving you unrestful sleep. The other alternative is medication. My doctor gave me Clonazepam to take a few nights of the week and it helped tremendously.

[Lin]

I have mega problems with sleep. I can go some nights with no sleep to other nights where I find it hard to wake up. I have tried all sorts. Meditation often helps me get off to sleep but not always. When I came out of hospital I started dreaming of my parents and dog who all died a long time ago. They were very real dreams and my husband said I talked lots of rubbish and even tried singing. One night I could hear my dog coming up the stairs and getting on my bed and it was really real. In bad moments I thought they were calling me and thought it was a reason for suicide but then I suddenly felt my mum was telling me to stay to be with my son and my dog was just coming back to give me comfort. Not sure if it was tablets or what and these dreams happen less now. But agree anxiety and depression affects sleep lots and in many different ways.

[laurandisorder]

Wow Lin,

I have dreams like those a lot - dreams of pets long passed away and more recently a dream of a friend who died a couple of years ago. He gave me the biggest hug and I could smell his hair. I asked him if he wanted me to say anything to his wife. He turned around and showed me a video of Whitney Houston singing the Bodyguard song. I thought that was weird and dismissed it - I told his widow about the dream and she burst into tears. They filmed themselves with a couple of other people (not me), singing that very song. I had never seen the video. So creepy. It was a dream visit from my beloved friend with a very real message of love for his wife!

I think that dreams are capable of many things - especially connections to passed loved ones. Even with my nightmares, terrors, paralysis and all the rest, I'm glad I'm a vivid dreamer. My partner doesn't remember his dreams at all and that's so sad to me!!