Nighttime Anxiety: Causes And 10 Keys To Overcome It
It’s 2 in the morning and in 5 hours you have to get up to go to work. You’ve been in bed tossing and turning for two hours, and no matter how hard you try, you can’t fall asleep. You’ve tried everything to fall asleep quickly, counting sheep, doing the 4-7-8 method, etc., but with every minute that passes you feel more distressed and worried. You have less and less time to sleep and thinking about this keeps you more awake.
If you think this situation has happened to you, you may have suffered from nighttime anxiety a phenomenon associated with insomnia that can appear at specific moments or for long periods of time for various reasons. In this article you can find some tips that will help you overcome this type of anxiety.
This unpleasant sensation can appear for different reasons, and you have surely experienced it at some point in your life. Nighttime anxiety invades you when you enter that vicious circle in which you are very clear that you should fall asleep but those negative thoughts and anxiety only feed this negative situation. You are sleepy, but you can’t relax.
Our mind has a tendency to ruminate, and if we dwell on a matter more we make things worse. Once these reflections take over our attention worry seriously disrupts our ability to fall asleep.
Causes of night anxiety
Anxiety is a totally normal and adaptive emotion, and people can experience it in our daily lives many times, but nighttime anxiety is not exactly positive. Generally is a consequence of concerns that we can have regarding something that happens to us in our daily lives.
Perhaps it is a warning about something that can go wrong, and in the best of cases, for example, it is a way to warn us that we must go out in search of a job because we are running out of money.
But it can also happen that nighttime anxiety is a consequence of imaginary or anticipated worries that we have and that we are exaggerating, it can be a symptom of the stress that we are suffering and that prevents us from sleeping, and it can even be a consequence of doing intense physical training just before before going to bed, which activates our nervous system and, in turn, prevents us from disconnecting when we are in bed.
Tips to overcome anxiety at night
Without a doubt, suffering from this situation is unpleasant. But… Is it possible to overcome it? Below you can find some tips and habits that can get you out of this complicated situation.
1. Detect the problem
It has already been mentioned in the previous lines that nighttime anxiety can be caused by different reasons. Therefore, it is necessary to detect the source of the problem. Are we training at night? Are we worried about something in our life (for example, paying the mortgage)? Do we have a lot of work in our office and do we take this work home? Are we going through an existential crisis?
These questions can help us know what is really happening to us, and so we can solve it. For example, if we have detected that the problem is that we train at night, perhaps it is better to train in the morning.
2. Seek psychological help
In some cases, we may not be aware of the problem, or when trying to solve it, the symptoms may not have improved. Then it is necessary to go to psychological therapy. An expert psychotherapist can help you to solve the problems of nocturnal anxiety and insomnia, so that you can improve your general health and regain emotional balance.
Doing physical exercise is necessary because it provides many benefits not only physical, but also psychological. Studies show that practicing sports improves mood because it helps release neurochemicals such as serotonin or endorphins, which make us feel good.
It also helps us reduce stress and anxiety, since reduces the presence of cortisol in our body. Likewise, with physical exercise you will be more tired at home and sleep better.
4. But… don’t overtrain
Now, to prevent the nervous system from being excessively active late at night, it is better to practice sports or physical exercise in the morning or early afternoon. The important thing is to avoid exercising at night.
Likewise, it is necessary to avoid overtraining syndrome, also called stalenesswhich is different from physical overtraining. This condition occurs when the athlete not getting enough rest or overtraining which has serious consequences for your mental health: feelings of emotional fatigue, lethargy, loss of vigor, insomnia, depression, etc. It can be difficult to detect; However, you can learn more about this phenomenon in our article: “Overtraining syndrome: burned out athletes”
5. Eat well
Food is also an important factor that determines to a greater or lesser extent our general well-being. Definitely, A healthy life will promote good sleeping habits which may play an important role in preventing insomnia.
But nutrition must be especially taken care of at night, as heavy meals can cause difficulties falling asleep and, therefore, nighttime anxiety.
6. Be careful with stimulants
While it is true that not everyone is affected in the same way by some stimulants such as coffee or theobromine, it is always preferable not to take products that contain these substances (especially taurine) after 6 in the afternoon (when you have a normal schedule) because it can make it difficult to sleep and alter your nervous system.
7. Practice Mindfulness
The practice of Mindfulness or Full Attention It seems to have a positive effect when it comes to combating anxiety, stress or insomnia. Mindfulness is a method that works on the ability to be aware, compassion and the ability to be present in the here and now.
Their 8-week program called “Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MSBR) Program” appears to significantly improve the well-being of people who have used it. A study from the University of Utah showed that MBSR not only helps reduce stress and control anxiety, but it can help us sleep better
8. Have a daily schedule
Insomnia and nighttime anxiety can also occur due to not having a defined schedule. For example, by going to bed one day at 11pm, the next at 3am and the next at 12pm. The same thing happens with getting up at a different time every day. It is always preferable to have a more or less fixed schedule, say from 9am to 11pm, which allows the circadian rhythm not to be altered and produce natural, quality sleep.
9. Disconnect
The schedule is often mediated by how we use technological devices. If we start watching a movie at 11pm, we probably won’t go to bed until after 1am, which does not promote sleep at all and can cause nighttime anxiety.
In addition, scientific studies affirm that using electronic devices 30 minutes before bedtime also impairs our ability to fall asleep, since seems to keep the mind stimulated due to lighting that these devices use.
10. Use the bedroom to sleep and have intimate relationships
Experts say that the room should be used for sleeping or having sex if we want to sleep better, so they do not advise having the computer in this space of the house. In addition, having the television nearby can be counterproductive especially if we go to bed with the TV on.
We must also take care of the space where we sleep: a comfortable pillow, a correct temperature, etc. These are factors that can cause poor quality sleep and can cause us to wake up in the middle of the night and then not be able to sleep properly.
