Many people suffer chronic insomnia due to sleep anxiety, which is characterized by excessive worry and preoccupation with sleep. Oftentimes, people with longstanding insomnia develop sleep anxieties because they have experienced difficulty sleeping for such a long period of time. Unfortunately, sleep anxiety worsens insomnia by contributing to a heightened arousal level at bedtime. Hence, sleeping poorly becomes a vicious cycle. Reducing sleep anxiety won't happen immediately--it takes practice and patience to break well-formed habits.
Step 1
Stop catastrophizing. Sleep anxiety results from a mental snowball effect in which the initial concern may be not be about sleeping, but rather about work, losing a job or similar worries. The anxiety builds with the snowball effect and the worries become blown out of proportion to the actual problem. Don't let yourself travel down the mental path of letting your anxiety build. Putting the worry into its proper perspective will help you relax and make it much more likely that you'll fall asleep.
Step 2
Set a scheduled "worry time." Choose 15 to 20 minutes you will not be interrupted. Take this time to write down any anxieties or concerns. After you are finished, let those worries go for the day. If these worries occur to you at bedtime, reassure yourself that you have scheduled time to worry during the day and try to let these worries go at night. According to the Help Me To Sleep website, the act of writing out this list will make you feel positive that tomorrow you will take care of certain items on your "worry list."
Step 3
Practice stimulus control therapy. Dr. John Cline, writing on the Psychology Today website, recommends stimulus control therapy to held reduce sleep anxiety. He writes, "Stimulus control instructions are designed to re-associate bedtime with the rapid onset of sleep and to establish a regular sleep-wake schedule that is consistent with the circadian (24 hour) sleep/wake cycle." Breaking the cycle of sleep anxiety involves eliminating the association of anxiety with the bedroom by only going to bed when you feel sleepy, leaving the bedroom anytime you feel anxious or wide awake, and reserving the bedroom for sleep and sex only.
Tips and Warnings
- Find a sleep expert if you continue to experience sleep anxiety. There are sleep experts who specialize in treating sleep anxiety. They can help you create a personalized structured plan. Talk to your primary care physician about getting a referral to a sleep expert in your area.
Things You'll Need
- Pad of paper
- Pen
