Insomnia

[Isabelle728]

I have been suffering with debilitating anxiety for a few months now and it does seem to be getting worse, it is no affecting my sleep. My anxiety increases more in the night, when I try to sleep I feel really really heavy, very restless, very agitated, racing thoughts, I struggle to swallow, dry mouth, I just feel dreadful. It is becoming an issue for me where I am now scared to go to sleep, I absolutely dread it. Any tips on how I can tackle this please? I've already tried reading a book, a funny tv series, sleep pillow spray, taking a bath and meditation music but nothing is working.
I'm running out of ideas and the anxiety I get when it starts to get dark just increases. I miss being able to fall straight to sleep with no problems :(

I've had insomnia all my life and it's hell. I'm afraid I've never found a long term solution but some things work short term. At the moment I'm doing a mindfulness meditation before bed which is helping me a little. Look up Calm with Kyle on YouTube.

What's caused the anxiety over the last few months?

@Eyesopenwideawake I got married last month and I am moving next week, it might be heightened due to these events, I'm not sure. I have always had anxiety but it's really bad at the minute. I only just exchanged yesterday and have a moving date of the 16th and funnily enough I managed to get a good 7 hours non broken sleep which I haven't had in a while! I'm wondering if it's stress from moving, just seems a crazy thing to be so anxious and stressed about

Try melatonin and magnesium.

I love this lady. 🩵💙🩵

Insomnia is awful and the lack of sleep really does affect all areas of life.

For me, stress is a major trigger of insomnia. So it very well could be linked to house move etc.

The thing that has worked best for me (apart from medication) is listening to sleep stories. I bought sleep earbuds and they have been great. I can listen to a story and once I'm asleep the buds play soothing sounds, which you can choose.

Moving house and getting married are up there with the most stressful life events so no wonder you've been losing sleep. While both are (hopefully!) positive events there's lots to organise, uncertainty and a lack of control so your mind will be in overdrive working through all the possible problems and the likely solutions.

The insomnia should reduce as the major stressors are completed but in the meantime try not to add lack of sleep to the list. When you go to bed assume you are NOT going to fall asleep but that you ARE going to rest, with nothing useful to do, for the next 6-8 hours. Once you take the pressure off yourself you may well find you drop off anyway.