Sleeping disorders with anxiety?!?!

[amberlove833]

Lately I've had trouble sleeping due to all the stress and high anxiety levels due to constant problems in my life. Also, I have something called sleep paralysis? Where you wake up and you can't move or speak for a few minutes. Is this normal to have with anxiety?

[shane bevan]

I have been dealing with bad night time anxiety you are not alone

[MitchHuxtable]

Recently I have woke up in like an attack mode because I'm really anxious over my symptoms ATM

[Judie]

I think you all are suffering more at night because again the mind is at work. It is very common for most people to associate night with a certain amount of apprehension. We have been conditioned since childhood that the nighttime is filled with scary things from childhood monsters under the bed to adult murderous home invasions. Hollywood does a good job of heightening that fear as well. Everything appears and feels worse at night from the common cold to anxiety.I am sure you are all familiar with the phrase. " everything looks better in the morning", phrases and thoughts like us make us think there is something wrong with night so we subconsciously begin to fear night. We as Anxiety Sufferers are expert at seeking out Negative thought. If the anxiety happens before you go to sleep, deep breathe, listen to an App with a soothing tape. If it happens at night ( a very tricky maneuver anxiety uses to catch you off guard) regain your composure as quickly as possible with" this is nothing, it is just anxiety, dismiss the negative thoughts, it truly is nothing at all, and replace them with thoughts of a pleasant time or place you can recall, perhaps a day at the beach. The quicker you learn to dismiss and take deep relaxing breaths the quicker you will let go of the anxiety and fall back to sleep. Been here several times, hang in there

[amberlove833]

I think you all are suffering more at night because again the mind is at work. It is very common for most people to associate night with a certain amount of apprehension. We have been conditioned since childhood that the nighttime is filled with scary things from childhood monsters under the bed to adult murderous home invasions. Hollywood does a good job of heightening that fear as well. Everything appears and feels worse at night from the common cold to anxiety.I am sure you are all familiar with the phrase. " everything looks better in the morning", phrases and thoughts like us make us think there is something wrong with night so we subconsciously begin to fear night. We as Anxiety Sufferers are expert at seeking out Negative thought. If the anxiety happens before you go to sleep, deep breathe, listen to an App with a soothing tape. If it happens at night ( a very tricky maneuver anxiety uses to catch you off guard) regain your composure as quickly as possible with" this is nothing, it is just anxiety, dismiss the negative thoughts, it truly is nothing at all, and replace them with thoughts of a pleasant time or place you can recall, perhaps a day at the beach. The quicker you learn to dismiss and take deep relaxing breaths the quicker you will let go of the anxiety and fall back to sleep. Been here several times, hang in there

Oh wow, didn't know that. Thank you again Judie. :)

[amberlove833]

Recently I have woke up in like an attack mode because I'm really anxious over my symptoms ATM

Lol "attack mode" :)

[kroozer]

also some of us have SAD -seasonal affective disorder, and the lack of sun actually affects us physiologically..Ialways have to fight off negativity when the sun goes down---but I wanted to ask Amber if there was any possibility that a medication might be causing extra anxiety and insomnia?? I just ranted about lexapro doing that in the medications forum...anyway you are certainly not alone, I think we need to creat a forum for people in the middle of the night who need to talk to eachother so they wont go insane!!! :cool:

[kroozer]

I've had that paralysis thing off and on all my life--its a mystery--it feels like it takes every ounce of energy to wake out of that state--I've noticed it happened more when I'm so exhausted that I sink into deep sleep toooo fast!! thats one of my hypothesis anyway, but unfortunately for me, today, I only wish I would feel that exhausted...insomnia has been my bedfellow way too long!!

[amberlove833]

I've had that paralysis thing off and on all my life--its a mystery--it feels like it takes every ounce of energy to wake out of that state--I've noticed it happened more when I'm so exhausted that I sink into deep sleep toooo fast!! thats one of my hypothesis anyway, but unfortunately for me, today, I only wish I would feel that exhausted...insomnia has been my bedfellow way too long!!

Not on any medication... Yet. Still working on that. I'm in the process of getting on ADD medication at the moment. Gosh, I have so many personal problems. :(

[Lin]

Night time is definitely the worse time when you have depression and/or anxiety - all the bad stuff comes to the front of your head.
Lots of techniques - write the worries down to get them out of your head, think of them put in a baloon and floating away - but also meditation at night can help calm the mind ready for bed. I now use a meditation mantra to get to sleep so I think of white light coming in when inhale and black smoke going out when exhale so that is all my worries going.
I find that techniques don't always last long and you have to find another method after a while.
Definitely found you have to try and stay in bed, even if read or go on forum in bed, otherwise once up you really struggle to get even any more nap time! Sleeping is horrible when the dreams come. My mum, dad and old dog all come back to me in my dreams and at first I thought they were calling me so made me think more of suicide, but lately think my mum especially has been telling me to stay and look after my son. Some nights I can even hear my old dog coming up the stairs and getting on my bed! In the night I even call my husband "mum" and talk to him about my old dog. When I first came out of hospital I even started to walk into strange places, like the airing cupboard and then panic because I didn't know where I was, and once I even started to sing - needless to say my husband found all this very difficult and meant he didn't sleep either!!!

Since had knee operations because he moves around and kicks my legs, we have moved into separate rooms. We always said we never would and it has been hard after 28 years, but it has been the best thing for me because I feel less restricted in the night because I can put the light on and read/forum etc and know that I am not disturbing him. Unfortunately, he can still sometimes hear my dreams, especially when I shout questions to him and call him mum!