There are so many ways in which anxiety disorders manifest that it is difficult to establish the types and causes of this anxiety. There are people who experience a lot of turmoil, while others remain paralyzed. Similarly, there are people who notice greater discomfort in the morning, while others experience anxiety before bed. Do you have anxiety at night? We tell you some remedies to monitor and control nighttime anxiety. Aim!
What is night anxiety?
Nighttime anxiety is one of the most common manifestations of anxiety disorders, a problem that is so closely linked to insomnia that it is sometimes difficult to separate the two. However, nocturnal anxiety is not the same as insomnia, although one can cause the other and vice versa.
Insomnia is one of the most common symptoms of anxiety, although it can also be a cause and a consequence. And, in any case, we are facing a vicious circle from which it is very difficult to get out. Nighttime anxiety doesn’t let you sleep well, it doesn’t let you sleep all night, and it makes you wake up exhausted, nervous, anguished and more worried.
In these conditions, anxiety only gets worse and if this happens to you one day, nothing happens. But when the situation of insomnia is repeated day after day, it not only generates anxiety, but an uncontrollable.
There are also some sleep disorders that cause nighttime anxiety. Having nightmares on a regular basis is one of the reasons why many people delay going to bed. Just like night, which are those episodes in which panic and terror wake you up, but for no specific reason?
Why do you have more anxiety before bed?
But why does night affect anxiety so much? There are several reasons why your anxiety worsens before bed and that have nothing to do with insomnia or your quality of sleep. What’s more, you may sleep perfectly throughout the night (or almost all of it), but the fall of afternoon and the arrival of night plunge you into anguish.
Especially if you live alone, you will know that the arrival of the night worsens anxiety. During the day you manage: working, running errands, meeting someone… But when you are left alone or rather alone with your anxiety, there is no way to avoid it. It is time to see each other’s faces, there is no possible evasion and anguish kicks in.
The night favors obsessive and distorted thoughts that come hand in hand with anxiety. At those hours there are no stimuli to distract you and your mind forces you to pay attention to its delusions. What you feel is discomfort and that discomfort becomes a giant monster that is not exactly hidden in the closet or under the bed.
Loneliness, the feeling of being misunderstood, the feeling of guilt for being wrong, for having anxiety, self-punishment for not having already overcome this problem. Anxiety at night comes in the form of negative and torturous self-talk; you’re doing it all wrong so you’ll never get over it. Do these reproaches ring a bell?
One more day, you think when you go to sleep. One more day with the suffocating company of anxiety. How long is she going to be here? This thought can become a delusional obsession that will lead you down dark paths from which it will be more difficult for you to get out, but it cannot be avoided; and less at night.
Concerns that seemed a little more hidden during the day come to light at night. How are you going to pay the mortgage this month, the estrangement with your partner, the argument with your sister, the feeling of not having support, the uncertainty, the insecurity you feel. Because when you live with anxiety, everything is dangerous. And if you lose your job? What if your child gets sick? And if…?
The past, the present and the future walk through your head at night and rise victorious in front of your mental rest. And it is very good to dedicate some time to reflection, but the fact is that that reflection that you do when you have anxiety is not objective and is distorted by negative thinking, so that time at night that you spend thinking about things it’s wasted time. You know it, but you can’t do anything about it.
Right when you get into bed the horror show regarding thoughts begins. And since in the end it becomes a habit, you already start to fear the situation the hours before you go to sleep. This is how nighttime anxiety is getting bigger and it takes more and more hours of the day.
It’s time to step in and put a stop to this anxiety at night.
Can you avoid anxiety at night?
Night anxiety can be avoided, of course. But before going on to give you some tips to reduce the discomfort you feel before going to sleep, let us remind you that an anxiety disorder requires psychological help to overcome it. It is not so much that anxiety disappears from your life as learning to manage it and that only a professional can help you.
And what can you do while psychological therapy progresses?
Sleep hygiene
Maintaining strict sleep hygiene, which is recommended for cases of insomnia, also works in the case of nocturnal anxiety. This sleep hygiene consists of a series of daily habits aimed at reducing both physical and mental activity throughout the day. So that the arrival of the night finds you in a more relaxed way.
Mindfulness
Speaking of relaxation, haven’t you tried it yet? Any type of anxiety is reduced if you regularly practice relaxation techniques and breathing exercises. The famous Mindfulness works miracles (although it is not something immediate) when it comes to being able to keep away the distorted thoughts of anxiety.
Off stimulants
Avoid any stimulant in the form of food, drink or distraction before going to sleep. We regret to inform you that theta give the last glance of the day to the social networks is not recommended if you want to spend a restful night.
Techniques for anxiety
Do you know that there are many techniques and keep away the thoughts that cause you the most anxiety? If you don’t know what to do after dinner, coloring mandalas will be much better for you than watching TV.
Sport
Surely they will have advised you to do physical exercise to relieve anxiety. And we agree, but if you suffer from nighttime anxiety, you better not do sports late in the afternoon. What we seek is a relaxed state of mind.
Sleeping pills?
On many occasions, the health professional prescribes anxiolytics to better sleep and reduce nighttime anxiety. Sometimes it is accompanied by psychological therapy and sometimes not. However, anxiolytics generate dependency and can cause a worsening of anxiety in the long term. Drug treatment should only be used when these measures are not sufficient and there is a significant impact on the daily activity of the patient”.
And now get into bed, take a deep breath, hold the air in for a few seconds and let it out slowly. Look only at the path that the air takes from when it enters to when it leaves. Do any thoughts distract you? Its okay let it go and tell him not now, that now you are paying attention to your breathing. Does this exercise a few times, you will see what happens. Think only about your breathing, tomorrow you will take care of what you have to take care of.
