If you’re feeling intense fear and nervousness about your ability to fall or remain asleep and the quality of your rest, you may be experiencing sleep anxiety. This can lead to a cycle of excessively worrying about sleep and getting less recovery at night.
There are ways to address this anxiety disorder and manage symptoms, which we’ll cover in this article.
Calming the Mind
Winding down before bed is an essential part of sleep hygiene. Avoid consuming caffeine in the afternoon after work or in the evening, as it may not leave your system in time for bed. Alcohol and eating a big meal before bedtime can also disrupt sleep.
When it gets dark outside, turn on blue-light filters on your devices and turn off overhead ambient lighting. Put away your devices an hour before bed to reduce disrupting your boy’s natural melatonin production.
Meditation and mindfulness can help ease anxious thoughts before bedtime. By focusing on your breathing and clearing your mind, you prepare the body for rest.
Creating a Restful Environment
Your bedroom should be an environment that promotes relaxation. Cluttered rooms full of bright colours can stimulate your mind and disrupt sleep. For most people, softer, warmer colours in shades of white and blue will make them feel at ease at bedtime.
Visual clutter and disorganisation can generate stress, reinforcing the sensation that you have too many “loose ends” to deal with. You don’t need to transform your bedroom into an unused showroom, but it is worth tidying up piles of clothes or books in the afternoon before dealing with them feels overwhelming.
Ottoman beds reduce the clutter in your bedroom by providing an easily accessible, out-of-mind place for your bedding and seasonal clothes, reducing the likelihood of messy piles accumulating.
Establishing a Routine
The mind craves consistency, particularly when it comes to bedtime. Your circadian rhythm tells your mind when to rest and when to be alert, but a poor night’s sleep can throw it out of balance.
To train your body gradually, try to go to bed within a 20-minute window nightly and get out of bed within the same window every morning, even if you didn’t sleep well. It will make it considerably easier to fall asleep, especially when you’re dealing with anxiety.
Avoid ‘catching up’ on sleep over the weekend if you’ve slept poorly during the week. People often believe it will improve their sleep quality, but it can worsen insomnia by creating social jetlag, a mismatch between your circadian rhythm and social schedule.
