Today, an average of 60 million Americans struggle with sleep problems. One of the more common issues is insomnia, characterized by an inability to fall asleep or stay asleep. A subset of that is anxiety-induced insomnia.
Understanding Anxiety-Induced Insomnia
Anxiety and sleep disturbances are often interconnected because high levels of anxiety can interfere with the brain’s ability to release things like GABA and to help calm down before sleep.
Similarly, anxiety can cause individuals to wake repeatedly throughout the night with preoccupying thoughts. With a growing prevalence of anxiety disorders and sleep problems in today’s society, it’s important to find the best medication for anxiety-induced insomnia and learn how to treat anxiety-induced insomnia with holistic measures that can be employed every day.
Identifying Symptoms of Anxiety-Induced Insomnia
If you are struggling with anxiety, it might be difficult to figure out why you have anxiety, but in other cases, it can be a little easier to identify the root cause of your insomnia if you pay attention to the thoughts that disrupt your sleep patterns or inhibit your ability to fall asleep.
If, for example, you perpetually wake up or have difficulty falling asleep because of thoughts like stress, fear, and worry, these are all related to anxiety, and if they relate to circumstances or situations in your daily life, it is very likely that anxiety is the root cause of your insomnia.
The Role of Triggers
The role of triggers is very prominent when it comes to anxiety-induced insomnia. With the right type of help for anxiety-induced insomnia, you will learn what your triggers are and how you can avoid them, particularly as it relates to sleep.
Consider this:
Margaret is overwhelmed with anxiety about upcoming business travel and a presentation she has to finish by the end of the week. When Margaret gets ready for bed, she checks her phone repeatedly to make sure that no one has contacted her with last-minute changes.
However, she ends up scrolling through her phone, double, triple, and quadruple-checking that she has correctly booked her flight and she knows where the hotel is, and she has everything for the upcoming presentation.
In Margaret’s case, one of her triggers could be checking her phone, especially when she does so right before bed or in bed, as this raises her anxiety levels at a time when she should otherwise be relaxing.
How to Treat Anxiety-Induced Insomnia
There are several forms of treatment that you can use to figure out how to control your anxiety-induced insomnia, particularly talk therapy, like cognitive behavioral therapy, sleep-friendly environments, relaxation techniques, and overall lifestyle changes.
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Insomnia
Cognitive behavioral therapy is one of the most effective forms of treatment for anxiety disorders, especially anxiety-induced insomnia.
Relaxation Techniques and Stress Reduction
Consider Margaret. In her case, relaxation techniques and stress reduction could go a long way toward helping overcome certain anxiety levels and triggers. She might be encouraged, as part of her anxiety-induced insomnia treatment, to prepare for bed 1 hour ahead of time with gentle yoga and meditations for deep rest.
Creating a Sleep-Friendly Environment
Creating a sleep-friendly environment is another way to get help for anxiety-induced insomnia from the comfort of your home.
If you reflect on Margaret, one of the triggers that she had was checking her phone even though she could have confidently checked her phone once during the day at the end of the work day and put everything else out of her mind until the following morning.
In this situation, part of Margaret’s treatment might include keeping her phone charged downstairs before she goes to bed and investing in a physical alarm clock so that she’s not tempted to check her phone and scroll for hours.
Depending on your circumstances, your sleep-friendly environment might include complete darkness, with proper blackout curtains and no lights, no technological devices that would otherwise distract you, and cool temperatures.
Medication Options for Anxiety-Induced Insomnia
In some cases, medication might be necessary, especially if the anxiety-induced insomnia has reached such a degree that it is severely disrupting your sleep and making it difficult for you to function.
In these circumstances, the best medication for anxiety-induced insomnia would revolve around anxiety medications for someone with a legitimate anxiety disorder but could also include natural supplements.
Natural Supplements for Better Sleep
Natural supplements for better sleep help your body to supplement things that should otherwise encourage or induce sleep but might be inhibited by anxiety and stress levels. Some common examples include valerian root or Valerian tea, which you can drink before bed, GABA supplements, or melatonin.
Lifestyle Changes for Managing Anxiety-Induced Insomnia
Like Margaret, learning how to treat anxiety-induced insomnia generally involves lifestyle changes that support reduced anxiety and better sleep quality.
Daily Habits to Support Better Sleep
Daily habits can go a long way towards supporting better sleep, and this includes:
- Regular exercise
- Avoiding sugars and caffeine or alcohol, especially in the afternoon and evening
- Keeping a clean and calm sleep environment where you don’t do other things except sleep
- Meditation
When you combine things like regular exercise and healthy nutrition, it can go a long way toward helping your sleep patterns.
Managing Stress and Anxiety Throughout the Day
Equally important for anyone struggling with anxiety-induced insomnia is to manage stress and anxiety throughout the day so that it doesn’t compound and interfere with your ability to relax in the evening.
This will look different for everyone and typically involves things like meditation and mindfulness as well as other stress management techniques such as progressive relaxation, which you can do whenever you feel triggered or overwhelmed.
The sooner you are able to disrupt that pattern of anxious thoughts, the more control you’ll have over your emotions and the less likely they are to disrupt your sleep later.
Seeking Professional Help for Anxiety-Induced Insomnia
If your sleep patterns have not changed, lifestyle changes and better stress reduction techniques haven’t done anything, then it might be time to seek professional help. Professional help for anxiety-induced insomnia is critical when your sleep is so severely disrupted that it is a risk to your overall health and daily function or when you have a legitimate anxiety disorder.
If you get a diagnosis of a legitimate anxiety disorder, you can start therapies and medication plans as advised by your medical team and meet with specialists who can provide things like lifestyle skills and coping mechanisms appropriate to your needs.
Summing Up
Overall, if you are struggling with anxiety-induced insomnia, lifestyle changes and medication options can go a long way toward reversing this impact. Cognitive behavioral therapy, relaxation techniques, and good sleep hygiene are essential. Remember that if your issues are significantly disruptive to your daily life and your overall health and safety, reach out to a professional to see if there are underlying issues that might be exacerbating your anxiety-induced insomnia and personalized treatment plans that can help.