Poor sleep

[redrich2000]

I have had anxiety for about 14 months. Its generally better than it was 6 months ago but I still have diabolically bad sleep. My problem is not getting to sleep but the quality of sleep I get. I pretty regularly fall asleep within 30 mins or an hour but then wake an hour later unsure of whether I have been asleep or not. Then that pattern continues through the night. I have concluded I am falling into a light unrestful sleep, with lots of dreams but little deep restorative sleep. I suspect the cause is that my mind is still over-wound and not shutting down properly for sleep.

There seems to be no easy solution to this. Sleeping tablets don't give you quality sleep, the various herbal options don't really work and even stuff like progressive muscle relaxation doesn't really relax my mind, or if it does, the mind quickly winds up again.

Anyone had any experience with this kind of sleep problem?
I am considering going back onto an anti-depressant to see if that helps but I'd prefer not to if possible.

[Charmbracelet81]

I jolt back awake once asleep thinking I am not breathing/have a panic attack. So you are right, our minds aren't shutting all the way off, they are still in protective overdrive. I have techniques my therapist gave me such as the progressive muscle one, but that relaxes my body, not my mind. One that works ok for me is imagery. I imagine a river and when a bad/intrusive thought comes I envision putting it on a leaf and watching it go down the river. Also, counting backward in my head gets me to fall asleep faster and sleep better. I have just started using ear plugs since I am easily startled and that has been wonderful! The thoughts keep us uptight, so we have to re-direct them, not only during the day, but while trying to sleep.

[anxiety-king]

I kinda have that feeling, its almost as if my sleep comes in 3 parts. I have a deep sleep of about 5 - 6 hours and wake up, and often have two more sleeps of about 1 1/2 hour each where im very aware that im dreaming and almost feeling anxious, whether thats anxiety in the dream itself or in reality im not sure!

I too suffer from panic attacks in my sleep not as often as I did since this "new anxiety" I have, but almost because I would fear having a panic attack in my sleep. Now I look forward to sleepin as it gives me my moment for my brain to shut off from this anxiety so the sleep attacks dont happen so frequently.

[palow]

This is something I came up with myself when I had anxiety jolts during the night, so I don't know if it will work for everyone. By the time I came up with this, I quit drinking coffee and switched to a cup of tea only in the morning. Plus I was not on any meds.

What I did was I started singing the moment I woke up (while I was still drowsy). I chose a song with a fairly complex melody with hopeful lyrics (try learning Somewhere Over The Rainbow or When You Wish Upon A Star). I found complex melodies do better because it helps to stop your thinking. And since you are still half asleep, I won't recommend you sing songs like Bad Romance because it might go into your subconscious.

Sing out loud but not loudly. Hopefully your spouse or partner is a heavy sleeper. What happened with me was that my anxiety would just melt away in seconds, I would start slurring my words within a minute, then I would only hum and the next thing I knew I was asleep.

After I got over my anxiety, if I got insomnia from waking up to go to the bathroom, this technique did not work. It only worked when I was jolted by anxiety, not by a full bladder.

I'm not promising anything since I made this up for myself. I made this up as one of the many diversions I had to think up while going through the Linden Method. Linden makes you think up stuff to do with what you love, and my biggest love is music. So if you are a math teacher, you might want to factorise equations in your head instead singing Somewhere Over The Rainbow. Do whatever you love.

Let me know if this helps.

Patrick