Sleeplessness and Anxiety

By Gordon Dalwood

Are you desperate to get a good night's sleep but finding it impossible? Do you find yourself tossing and turning all night and when you do drift off, you wake up soon afterwards again? Is this something you've been experience for a few months, or do you experience these bouts every once in a while? Perhaps you've been having these bouts for year already but because they tend to come and go, you've always just battle your way through them. Well, if any of this sounds familiar, then I'm afraid that anxiety may very well be the cause of the insomnia.

How can this be possible? Well, if you are worrying about your job, finances, or personal life to the point a good night's sleep is impossible, then you may be suffering from an anxiety induced sleep disturbance. And, no, this is not a minor problem. If you are unable to get a decent night's rest, there can be many ripple effects that you must contend with in the rest of your life.

If you are not getting a good night's sleep for a couple of weeks, what do you think the effect of this would be on your job? This would definitely take it's toll on your work status. Irritability due to the lack of sleep can affect home life and cause problems with your friends and family. That is why it is imperative to take control of the situation and turn it around.

One question often asked even though we know anxiety can cause sleeplessness is why does this happen? Basically the hyperactivity and restlessness you have are the reason these occur together. The mind races through so many thoughts that it makes it impossible to relax long enough to sleep. This is what ends up causing sleeplessness which must be dealt with by anxiety sufferers.

A number of ways of reducing anxiety to control sleeplessness are available. One of the number one ways of doing this is to not consume anything that will allow you to feel anxious. Avoidance of caffeine and stimulants is important is you are not sleeping well. These should be avoided due to the knowledge that they will add to the anxiety.

Frequent and regular exercise is also of vital importance, primarily because anxiety is interconnected with excessive amounts tension and of course, exercise can greatly reduce tension. In fact, just as one can use exercise to burn up calories when you want to loose weight, so too can you use exercise to burn up tension.

Engaging in deep breathing exercises is also helpful. Gaining control of your breathing will contribute greatly to reducing anxiety. This is because deep breathing will slow your respiration and your heart rate. This, in turn, will have a calming effect. That will eventually help restore your normal sleeping patterns.



Anxiety is a serious problem by itself. When it is compounded by issues related to sleeplessness it becomes even more traumatic. Thankfully, there are ways to alleviate both anxiety and sleepless. So, there is hope that you can be in control of your life once again. - 30540

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