Tuesday 29 December 2009

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.

Imagine not having a decent night's sleep in over two weeks. Would you think you would be effective on the job? More than likely, such problems could completely undermine your standing at work. Your home life could also be seriously affected as well. Excess tension and irritability can undermine your relationships with friends and family. That is why it is important to deal with the situation with the obvious intention of reversing its impact.

Although it's a well known fact that anxiety can often lead to sleepless nights, many people still fail to understand how and why this happens. The reason why anxiety is often accompanied by insomnia is largely due to hyperactivity and restlessness. When you experience disturbing anxiety related thoughts together mental uneasiness, it can become near impossible for you to calm down, and this of course results in insomnia.

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.

Getting regular exercise is also very important. Anxiety is interconnected with excess and built up tension. Through exercising, you can reduce such tension by utilizing it in your athletic performance. In short, you can burn up anxiety in the same way you can burn calories.

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.

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