702: Sleep Soundly: Quieting Your Mind for Restful Sleep — Anxiety Slayer™

Factors mentioned on this episode:

Anxiousness and sleep can have an effect on one another in a what looks like a by no means ending loop that’s very difficult to stay with.

Anxiousness makes the thoughts unsettled which retains us awake with our worries. And lack of sleep can enhance nervousness, making a loop of sleeplessness and fear that feels onerous to flee.

After a number of nights of looping worries and poor sleep we’d begin to dread bedtime, and anticipate an anxious wakeful night time, which makes it all of the more difficult to calm down and settle into good high quality sleep.

The extra we fear about not having the ability to sleep, the much less probably we’re to get a great nights relaxation.

Noticing Patterns

The thoughts typically will get caught by nervousness in a selected place, frequent areas within the dwelling the place nervousness can break in are the toilet and the bed room. Possibly as a result of they’re the quieter locations the place an unsettled thoughts is much less distracted and may simply intrude on our peace.

Many dwelling with nervousness additionally wrestle extra within the mornings when dealing with the day forward, or the evenings when worrying about sleep, or what tomorrow would possibly deliver.

Noticing our patterns may also help us see that nervousness is momentary, it’s not there all day, although it’d really feel like it’s. It additionally provides us data on areas the place we are able to make modifications and search assist.

It helps to undertake an perspective of rising to nervousness and discovering methods to calm it. We will’t completely assure a great night time sleep however we could be as relaxed as potential and in one of the best state to ask sleep.

Acceptance and Inviting Relaxation

Once we fear about not having the ability to sleep, or dread the approaching night time and begin fascinated with what would possibly occur, we’re struggling twice.

And it’s our default setting to try this. We resist what we don’t wish to expertise.

We have to sleep, we don’t like feeling anxious, and it’s typically worse at night time so we begin anticipating the nervousness and being caught awake with it after which we expertise extra nervousness. Our thoughts turns into preoccupied with what we don’t need.

It’s comprehensible, nevertheless it doesn’t assist.

What does assistance is getting set as much as be as relaxed, calm, and comfy as potential.

We’ve shared recommendations on respiration, oil therapeutic massage and guided relaxations within the earlier episodes on this sequence. Give these practices a attempt to see what works nicely for you.

Writing

Sensible writing: when you’re fearful you would possibly neglect one thing tomorrow – write it down – make an inventory and belief your self that you’ve got that ready for you within the morning.

Write a quick mind dump of your day and put it apart. Write with the intention of clearing, not getting caught within the particulars.

Then write out what you must be thankful for.

It may be a supportive nightly routine to have a favourite chair to write down in with a heat drink with the intention of leaving your ideas and writing there earlier than going to mattress.