How to Calm Anxiety at Night? 5 Quick and Proven Mind Tricks
Evidence BasedAnxiety is a normal reaction for most people; however, for some, the feeling can be debilitating, characterized by worry and nervousness. Commonly, people experience anxiety when in stressful situations like job interviews or first dates. But for some, the feeling can linger longer than usual, affecting them during the day, at night, or both.
Various clinical trials have determined that anxiety can be triggered by sleep deprivation. These are instances where affected individuals can’t sleep due to anxiety and worry over random (or specific) thoughts.
Further research also suggests that the disorder can be associated with poor sleep quality. Treating your anxiety, addressing sleep issues, and learning how to calm anxiety at night are critical steps in having a quality life. Therefore, you’ll have to learn some mind tricks to help you learn how to sleep when stressed and anxious.
Anxiety at night time can be a serious issue. Get in touch with experts at Mangoclinic for the best help today.
Why Do People Develop Sleep Anxiety?
There are several reasons for anxiety at night. For instance, when you lie down at night to sleep, your mind is relatively free and ready to analyze and solve various issues you’ve been avoiding. The problem comes when you can’t seem to find a quick solution for your issue, making you think that you won’t be able to survive without solving the issue.
Often, your worries become louder, more pronounced, and overwhelming, putting your mind in a frenzy. In turn, this taxes your adrenal system and hormones forcing your body to stay awake if it has to fight to survive. It is a red flag alerting you to some unsolved issues that need to be addressed ASAP.
Symptoms
There are several anxiety symptoms, and each individual experiences their own set of symptoms. They can happen any time during the day and even at night. Here are symptoms that you’ll need to look out for. They include:
- Trouble concentrating
- Feeling nervous, nervous, or worrying
- Gastrointestinal issues
- Problems falling or staying asleep
- Chest pains and increased heart rate
- Feeling a sense of impending doom
- Throat tightness and shortness of breath
- Hot flashes, chills, and sweating
- Lightheadedness or dizziness
- Feeling detached
In some instances, affected individuals can wake up from panic attacks with similar signs and symptoms as regular panic attacks. The primary difference between the two is that they happen while you sleep. Nocturnal panic attacks make it difficult for individuals to fall back to sleep.
Five Tricks to Calm Your Anxiety at Night
You should make an appointment and visit a licensed trauma or anxiety therapist to help you deal with any primary issues triggering your anxiety at night before learning how to calm anxiety at night. However, here are some lifestyle tips you could use to help you get a good night’s sleep if you don’t have a major problem or already have an appointment with your therapist. Five tricks you could use to calm anxiety at night include:
How to Fight Panic Attacks at Night?
De-stressing Exercises
It would help if you did exercises that involve breathing in and out slowly while paying attention to your breathing pattern. It’s a form of meditation that requires you to fully concentrate on the activity, placing you in the present moment where you begin noticing sounds, objects, and smells. Such exercises, i.e., yoga, help you relax by flooding your body with feel-good hormones that reduce your make you feel safe. This reduces the amount of adrenaline coursing through your body, reducing the heartbeat and allowing you to become less tense. De-stressing exercises and meditation for healing (visualizing your life like a cabinet full of drawers representing various sectors of your life) help you categorize your life. This makes it easier to solve any issues (probably in the order of urgency) you may have now instead of facing all the issues head-on.
Get your anxiety at night symptoms checked by licensed professionals to know the cause and overcome the symptoms in time.
Create a Sleep Routine
Routines differ between individuals depending on each person’s needs. Some individuals may prefer to meditate, exercise, light a scented candle, read a book, pet their cat, or bathe before bed. The primary idea here is to take some time to wind down before you hit the sack. It would help if you did not spend this time worrying about the following day’s problems or the previous day’s concerns. If you want to learn how to calm anxiety at night, you should be more concerned about yourself and taking care of your mental and physical health. If you have to make plans, then they should involve your aspirations. You should also take part in grounding exercises. These exercises involve triggering your visual and sensory inputs to prevent your mind from wandering. It helps keep you in the present, giving you control; you need to push away the thoughts and invite warmer thoughts that help you concentrate on falling asleep.
Don’t Lie Awake in Bed
Want to know how to stop overthinking at night? Go to bed simultaneously each night within a 20-minute window of a healthy bedtime. You’ll have to assess your schedule to determine the healthiest time you could go to sleep. Next, you should work on your routine and determine all essential actions you need to take to get to bed at that time. Once you get to bed, you shouldn’t lie there doing nothing because this could cause your mind to wander, creating a firestorm of anxiety and worry. You’ll have to restart your bedtime routine if you can’t sleep within your present bedtime.
Create Healthy Sleep Habits
One other reason for anxiety at night is lacking a proper sleep schedule. For instance, you should avoid any stimulants at night because they make you more active, alert, and prone to overthinking, making it harder to fall asleep. The worst stimulants you should avoid are caffeine and alcohol. You should also turn off your electronics about thirty minutes before going to bed. You can replace this habit with something healthier, like reading a book or solving puzzles if you feel lost. A 2017 study revealed that adults that used electronics right before they slept had short and poor-quality periods of sleep. Lastly, it would help if you strived to make yourself more comfortable by using a good-quality mattress and pillow and adjusting your bedroom to fit your new lifestyle. You could add heavier drapes to block out the light and sounds and remove all electronics from your bedroom.
Write Down Your Worries
Writing down your worries wins half the fight. It eases you by helping you acknowledge your issues. Plus, writing them down gives them meaning, helping you distinguish between legitimate worries and baseless anxiety. Thus, you get the chance to go to bed knowing your problems and understanding which of them can be solved.
Conclusion: Anxiety at Night Treatment
You should visit a therapist and get proper assessment and treatment if your insomnia lasts for more than two weeks or begins to affect your work, school, and daily quality of life. Your therapist will be able to determine the primary reason behind the condition and find ways to help you learn how to calm anxiety at night.
Lack of treatment can cause you to develop various health conditions like depression (and other mental health conditions), a weakened immune system, high blood pressure, and even lead to accidents. You can get professional treatment from our licensed doctors today. All you need to do is get in touch with us today, and we’ll be there to help any time!
