When you lay down to rest at night, the last thing you want to deal with is sleep anxiety. Sleep anxiety can leave you restless and unable to sleep, making the next day exhausting and stressful. While sleep anxiety might feel unavoidable, there are many different things you can do to minimize nighttime stress.
Holistic and Herbal Help
While medications like melatonin can help with insomnia and restlessness, many people prefer not to take them. Though they do work, they can leave you drowsy, lower focus, and build a dependence over time. If you don’t wish to risk the negative side effects of sleep medicine, many homeopathic remedies have been used for centuries.
One such remedy is using herbs for sleep. Herbs can be used in both aromatherapy and tea to aid in restful sleep. Lavender, rosemary, jasmine, and mullein are some of the most popular plants for sleep aid. Many people will put these in bags in their pillowcases, where the smell can soothe you all night long. These herbs can usually be found in the tea aisle of most grocery stores, as well as metaphysical stores.
Another way to calm your mind before you rest is through meditation. This will help to relax your body as well as your brain and slow your heart rate, making it easier to fall asleep. By meditating regularly, you can get rid of some of the stress you carry around every day and learn how to better deal with it. Methods like these have been used by people all around the world for centuries, no matter their cultures and beliefs.
Optimal Sleep Environment
This may seem like a no-brainer, but another key component to making your sleep as restful as it can be is to have a comfortable space. If your bed is uncomfortable, you won’t be able to truly rest and relax. Your sleep will tend to be restless, and sleep anxiety will be more prevalent. To prevent that, take some time to make sure your room is comfortable. If you need to replace bedding or pillows, it’s worth it to spend a little bit of money.
On top of making your bed itself comfortable, ensuring your room is comfortable will help to minimize sleep anxiety. Your room should be a place you can relax and get away from the stress of your daily life. This can be done through decor, ambient lighting, soft pillows, blankets, and blackout curtains. By making your bedroom a place of relaxation and comfort, you will have a space to get away from the world anytime you need to. It can be your sanctuary away from stress.
Managing Daily Stress
Reducing the amount of tension you’re dealing with daily can greatly help when you’re settling down to rest. Of course, it is nearly impossible to eliminate stress entirely, but you can certainly work on managing it. One way that many people manage their stress and anxiety is through journaling. Journaling is a great way to take the stress you pick up throughout your day and get it out in a constructive way. You don’t have to carry that stress around longer than you allow yourself, and by letting out those feelings, you can decompress from everything that’s bothering you.
Another way you can reduce how much stress you carry is through self-care. Taking time away from the stress of your life to do something you enjoy can greatly reduce the amount of stress you deal with. Self-care doesn’t need to be extreme or expensive, rather it can be something simple like having a warm cup of tea and reading a book instead of rushing off to do something. Take some time away from life to care for your own mental health, and see how much easier it is to rest at night.
Overall, it isn’t hard to ensure that your sleep is restful and deep. Get cozy, relax, and settle in for a good night of sleep in a place you love.
Treatment Options
When you are diagnosed with anxiety and some sleep disorder, things are a bit more tricky, but with the help of professionals, you can treat them successfully. Specialists usually prescribe medications or therapy, but often, both methods are necessary if you want to treat both problems at the same time.
You can also try other forms of treatment, such as cognitive-behavioral therapy, which can successfully reduce the symptoms of insomnia and anxiety. This therapy can help patients learn how to detach from negative thoughts, with the help of cognitive restructuring, distraction, or exposure therapy.
In case of severe symptoms that require medical treatment, low doses of diazepam are prescribed to patients, but they are only a short-term solution and should not be used longer than four weeks.
Diazepam is commonly used to treat anxiety, but it also induces drowsiness, which is what patients suffering from both disorders need. Since tiredness is considered a side effect of this drug, people who are not experiencing sleep disturbances should keep that in mind.
Dealing with any type of disorder is a struggle, but when you have to fight two of them at the same time, it gets even harder. The most important thing is to try to remain reasonable and patient and get the help you need to overcome these problems.
Alaska Sleep Clinic is the only lab in Alaska with a psychologist that specializes in sleep disorders. Read more about Dr. Angie Randazzo.
