Listening to Understand: I want to Sleep

Let’s see, it’s 4 am and you are wide awake. You’ve been trying all night to get a good night’s rest and it just isn’t happening. By now, you’re frustrated, annoyed and amongst all else, just plain tired. It’s like you’ve done everything in you power to go to sleep. You start to think something is wrong with you and you may need to seek a professional. I mean, after all, this isn’t the first time. Here’s what some people don’t know: sleep anxiety is a real thing. You are probably looking really confused right now. It’s ok, I’ll explain.

There are many different sleeping disorders, with insomniac and sleep walking being the most talked about. Did you know there are many other sleeping disorders? There’s sleep paralysis (which should be discussed more; however, I’ll save that for another article), narcolepsy, RLS better known as Restless Leg Syndrome, and that’s just to name a few. The one we’re going to touch on is sleep anxiety.

To really understand this disorder, you need to know what causes it. Everyone knows anxiety is brought on by a traumatic experience or a fear of something. Many things can cause your anxiety to shoot through the roof. For example, I have a fear of spiders. Spiders send me into a frenzy. I panic, I get scared and I start to go into fight or flight mode. It’s your body’s natural reaction when you feel threatened ( by the way, the spiders usually win the battle). I do everything I can to calm down. Since I’m not in the fight of my life anymore, I can feel my body start to relax. After all that commotion, I start to realize, I’m tired. That whole ordeal took a lot out of me! At this point, it’s nap time. I get snuggled in my bed, close my eyes and wait for sleep to approach. It never does, resulting in me tossing and turning, adjusting my body, my pillows, my covers, the air, anything to bring on sleep. This my dear friends is referred to as sleep anxiety.

You may wonder why I won’t call it insomnia and are probably thinking it’s one in the same. It’s not. Insomnia is a chronic condition. People are diagnosed, given medication and are closely monitored by a doctor. While sleep anxiety can be chronic, it’s often not. I say that because sleep anxiety can be resolved if you just listen to your body. Sleep anxiety doesn’t happen all the time. Its every once in a while or far few and in between. A number of things can cause sleep anxiety. For example, stress, worry, a traumatic experience, anxiousness, or just simply can’t turn your brain off. Any number of these can cause it. If that is the case, you need to find ways to deal with it. Seeking a medical professional isn’t always necessary. Sometimes these issues can be solved right at home.

Here are some tips for the next time you have sleep anxiety.