You may be wondering what’s causing your problems. Is your sleep driving your anxiety or is your anxiety disrupting your sleep? This is a good question to ask to get to the root of your issues. There has been plenty of research that showcases the relationship between sleep and anxiety and it dictates that it can be bidirectional. This means anxiety problems can lead to sleep problems and vice versa.
Because these two things have such a strong relationship, you want to address both whenever you are looking to improve your health. Along with anxiety, you will find that sleep problems can end up putting you at an increased risk for developing more serious health conditions including heart disease. If you are currently dealing with insomnia, you want to look at how anxiety may be contributing to it. Discussing these issues in online therapy can help you get to the root of the problem. Treating any sleep disorder or problems without looking at the relationship that anxiety has with it is likely to fail. Here are some of the best ways to deal with sleep and anxiety.
Are you concerned that you could be dealing with anxiety or sleep disorders? Here are some tips for improving both your sleep and anxiety.
Some Treatment Options
As soon as you’ve discussed some of the problems you are having with your doctor, they are likely going to refer you to a specialist. Usually, you will head to a clinic where they will analyze you to gather more pertinent information. Along with this, mental health professionals can give you plenty of education you need to figure out a clear plan you should be taking to improve your sleep. To effectively treat anxiety along with your sleep, you’ll likely want to get some therapy or prescription medication. A lot of people will be recommended a combination of the two for the best results. Cognitive-behavioral therapy is a good option and it’s a type of psychotherapy that will allow you to challenge your anxious thoughts head-on. Some doctors will even point you to doing some meditation for calming your thoughts if that’s what’s keeping you from sleeping at night.
1. Get Moving
One of the best things you can do is to exercise more. Believe it or not, exercising is one of the best ways to improve your sleep and get rid of excess anxiety. However, you want to pay attention when you are exercising. Exercising too close to bedtime can be counterproductive and hurt your quality of sleep. Instead, you want to try to plan to work out in the morning right when you wake up. This will allow you to get your day started right and it will keep you from getting too much adrenaline right before you lay down to sleep.
2. Improve Your Environment
One of the best things you can do when you are looking to improve the quality of sleep you are getting is to improve your environment. This is easily the most effective way to maximize your ability to fall asleep and stay asleep throughout the night. There are plenty of easy things you can do to improve your sleep environment. These include controlling ambient light, minimizing sound disturbances, and lowering the temperature of your room. An ideal temperature is around 63-65-degrees. Anything higher is likely to result in you being unable to fall asleep quickly.
By keeping your bedroom dark and cool, you can improve your sleep tremendously. If you have a lot of excess noise entering your room, adding a white noise machine can be a good option to drown it out. Also, taking a cool shower right before you lay in bed can be a great way to cool your body to prime it for a comfortable night of rest. Your body’s temperature lowers as you fall asleep. By doing it beforehand, you can prime it for better sleep.
3. Don’t Drink Coffee At Night
Coffee is perfectly acceptable to get your day started. Drinking coffee in the morning can give your body and mind the jumpstart you need. However, you want to avoid drinking coffee too late at night. Drinking it too late in the day or at night can have detrimental effects on your quality of sleep. It could keep you from falling asleep altogether. You want to avoid drinking it after mid-day. Caffeine’s effects can last as many as 6 hours after consumption.
4. Calm Your Mind
You want to try to engage in activities before bed that can calm your mind. These can include listening to relaxing music, doing some relaxing techniques, and even implementing some breathing exercises. Try to engage in these techniques and exercises to put yourself in a restful state where you can better relax.
5. Reduce Your Screen Time
Any screen time at night is going to be detrimental to your sleep efforts. Not only does exposure to blue light negatively impact your sleep, but it can also trigger anxiety. For instance, if you are looking at work emails or school emails late at night, you can start to fret about things you have to do. By avoiding screens altogether at night, you can avoid this. Exposure to blue light stimulates your mind and body because it simulates exposure to daylight/sunlight.
6. Ask For Help
Sometimes, managing your anxiety is key to improving your sleep. It’s also much more complicated for some. While these techniques can help, some may need even more assistance. If so, you can always ask for help from your doctor. They can point you in the right direction and give you the professional attention you need to correct your sleep and anxiety troubles.
Tags: anxiety, health, mental health, sleep, sleeping
