Anxiety, Panic and Sleeping Tips

tips on how to cope: dealing with your feelings, dealing with the consequences of self-harm in your life. share your ideas and maybe pick up some new skills, too. you don't have to want to stop to learn something new here.

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Anxiety, Panic and Sleeping Tips

Post by Licentia Poetica » Thu Feb 15, 2007 1:39 am

A couple of sleeping tricks:

These are just some tricks I picked up from T's/ reading things. Kind of an alternate to counting sheep which actually doesn't work :wink: I find they don't work at once. You have to try it for a while.

1. Lie in your bed, flat, arms by your side, legs stretched out with your eyes closed. Locate a sound. It could be anything - your own breathing, cars on the street, outside noises, wind, rain, ticking of clocks (although sometimes it's useful to NOT sleep with a clock near you), etc. Slowly focus on that one sound for 10 - 20 seconds. Then move to the next sound. And so on.

2. Lie in a similar position to the above. As slowly as you possibly can, focus on each part of your body. Start with the toes on your left foot. Focus really clearly on them, and then move onto your whole foot. Other toes, other foot. Each leg, knee etc, until you're all the way up to your forehead. You can break it down as much as you like (ie. If you want to, you can separate each toe, and finger).

I find this one the most helpful tbh. I can get to a kind of floaty state where if for example I imagine my bed very slowly rocking from side to side, I can almost physically feel it.

A variation on this is to actually flex for a few seconds and release each part of your body as you focus on it.

3. Has anyone ever does that muscle spasm trick with you, where someone sits down and you try to lift them up, and they're heavy, but then you press down on their head for a while and then try to lift them and they feel lighter?

If you lie with your body very straight, eye closed and your arms straight up in the air, and hold them like so for at least 30 seconds, and then as SLOWLY as you *possibly* can move them down to rest by your sides, you should experience an odd sensation as if your arms are moving past your body down through the bed (or that's how I describe it). Sometimes when I'm trying to sleep I do this, I'm not sure if it's really a technique or not, but it helps me feel a little floaty, and out of it, more predisposed to sleep.

4. Again, in that same position. Imagine in your head an image of something very simple. This could also be anything (tree, dog, leaf, flower, snow, camera, cat, sewing machine, whatever). It's important the things are simple nouns, like "person" rather than "actual person you know". When I do it, they usually end up being cartoon drawings or kind of like "A for Apple" type flashcards. This gets easier as you do it. And, as if you're playing a word association game, just move from one image to another, slowly. It has to be slowly. Spend about 10 seconds on each image. (this one doesn't work so well for me because I can't keep the images going slowly and I get a little frustrated, but I thought I'd post it anyway) Of course if you can only come up with images that are negative for you, it isn't going to work.


On anxiety:

Anxiety and sleep and linked. So, chances are, if you're getting more of one, you'll be getting a little less of the other. This is why many medications for used for anxiety - eg, anti psychotics, benzos, lexapro, and also herbal supplements, make you sleepy/ drowsy.

Not many people are aware that a panic attack is actually a very simple imbalance in your body. It simply means you are not breathing in correct amounts of oxygen and CO2.

You feel fear of something/ someone/ some situation, even if this fear is so very tiny you don't even consciously recognise it. And you naturally hyperventilate a little, breathing in less CO2 than you normally would. Then you feel more fear because you're already feeling anxious, leading to more hyperventilating and a panic attack.

Sitting down and breathing slowly (and cupping your hands over your mouth and nose to recycle the air) will help calm you during a panic attack. Obviously the longer you've been panicking, the longer it will take to come down (even hours, don't give up), which is why it's important to recognise it sooner rather than later.

If you "have anxiety" this means your body is predisposed to naturally hyperventilate. The reason yoga and exercise helps relieve anxiety is because it literally forces you to keep your breathing under control. The more you keep it under control, the more you CAN keep it under control.

Also remember that the only way anxiety can hurt you is if you let it stop you from doing the things you would want to do despite its presence.
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Post by StevieLynn » Thu Feb 15, 2007 3:08 am

Very helpful, El, thanks! I suffer from both insomnia and anxiety, so I will be sure to try some of these techniques.

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Post by Masquerade » Thu Feb 15, 2007 11:40 am

:) thanks alot...I actually went to this fourm to find ways to calm down when my anxiety gets bad.
Most times I can't sleep because of it.
great post...
very helpful

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Post by jaded melody » Thu Feb 15, 2007 11:44 am

Another couple of tips reguarding insomnia and anxiety.

1. First of all, try to remember that everyone gets sleep disturbances sometimes, and although its very unpleasant, it will get back to normal. The more stressed and anxious you become about not being able to sleep the longer it will take.

2. Your bed, ideally, should be for sleep ONLY. Dont watch TV, or anything like that while you're in bed. Your body learns that when you're in bed, you should be sleeping.

3. Have a bedtime routine. Including no caffiene, fruit juice or refined sugar in the evenings, no overly stimulating activities in the evening, a bed time thats the same give or take an hour maz each night.

4. My brother's occupational therapist advised him to drink a glass of milk about half an hour before sleeping. He also has a slice of turkey breast.

5. Don't lie in bed for more than 45 minutes unable to sleep. If you've been in bed that long and still dont feel sleepy/cant sleep, get out of bed and leave your bedroom. Make yourself a hot, milky drink (hot milk with honey is good), and do something relaxing until you feel sleepy and then go back to bed. If you dont feel sleepy, you might as well stay up. Tossing and turning in bed will do you no good, and only make you more stressed and less likely to sleep.

6. Exercise in the day is very important. It releases endorphins which help you sleep better in the evening, and like El said, because anxiety is related to breathing, regular exercise will help.

I'm sure there are more but thats all i can remember for now.
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Post by Quiet little Angel » Thu Feb 15, 2007 11:12 pm

i know this might not be the kind of advice this thread is about, but i thought i'd mention that valiant-root pills are really great for both anxiety and insomnia and can be bought without a doc-note...
just thought i'd mention it...
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Post by Seeshellz » Wed Feb 21, 2007 1:26 pm

Some more sleeping tips I got from my therapist yesterday...

The scent of lavender is supposted to be relaxing. They even have linen spray for that thing. You spray it lightly on your linen a few moments before you go to bed. You can even use lavender scented baby powder.

Having a lavender salts bath before bed to relax you.

Also listening to lullabyes, or other relaxing type music, to lull you into a good night's sleep. Especially when you have anxiety or fears about sleeping...

Warm milk with a tsp of honey mixed in before bed is good.(someone mentioned it but I thought I'd mention it again because it is so good.)

And if you have a pet cat, stroking or petting your cat can relax you too. Good for both of you actually! :wink:
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Post by Licentia Poetica » Mon May 28, 2007 5:21 am

bump.
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Post by Stripe » Mon May 28, 2007 3:11 pm

Thanks for all these useful tips...

I shall try them tonight as they seem more effective than anything I have yet developed :)
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Post by JustAlittleBitBroken » Tue Jun 05, 2007 7:19 am

I am definitely going to try some of these right now. Lately i have suffered some insomnia, and dont know why. Thank you deeply for this post.
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Post by JustAlittleBitBroken » Tue Jun 05, 2007 4:56 pm

The petting the cat one worked for me. Even after my cat had gotten up and went to lay at the foot of my bed, I was much more relaxed and fell asleep without a problem. I also have something else to add to this list if you dont mind.

Whenever I am having a hard time falling asleep, usually due to thinking about things too much, I start counting backwards from 500. I usually never make it past 250 tho. It helps me to stop thinking about everything, and just focus on the numbers.
<center>The heart may freeze or it can burn
The pain will ease if I can learn There is no future There is no past I live this moment as my last There's only us There's only this Forget regret Or life is yours to miss No other road No other way No day but today
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Post by purplefroggydishwasher » Wed Jun 06, 2007 4:17 am

one that i've found helps with my anxiety and panic attacks is music. everywhere i go my mp3 player comes too, and it has a mix of all my anti anxiety/panic songs. just focusing on the music helps so much, and it helps block out the things that make me anxious, like thinking others are talking about me on the bus and stuff.
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Post by recovering4me » Wed Jun 06, 2007 5:52 am

just reading these is mking me tired................

what i do is curl up in a lot of blankets. making sortof a cuccoon or something. it helps with both anxiety and sleeping because it's a safe thing, kindof primal, like being in the mothers womb.....
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Post by VowsOfSadness » Sun Jun 10, 2007 6:12 am

lovely thread

lots of help!
*Challenges welcome*
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Post by Ice_crystal » Fri Aug 22, 2008 12:47 am

Not exactly about sleeping, but something against nightmares. My therapist told me about it today, so I've not tried it so far, no experiences with it.
It's very good for things that turn up repetitively - let's say you're pursued by someone and you can't escape.
Now - first thing to do when you wake up: Write everything down - if you don't remember everything, well, never mind, write down the things you remember. You could put a notepad next to your bed.

Things to do while being awake:
Chose a dreaming pattern - as in my example, it would be "dreams where you're pursued".
Next thing: Write down a new version of this dream. It is very important that you take the active part in this version! Let's say, while being pursued you're clapping in your hands twice - and suddenly a flying horse appears and picks you up - you're safe now, the pursuer is not able to fly.
or you could fly by yourself. Or you could erect a wall around yourself. etc. - whatever you like.
Just important - take the active part! Don't write down something like "suddenly, the pursuer decides to go home" - simply because this is something you can't control. But in this changed dream, it's YOU who is having the control.

Last thing to do: Go over this changed dream, again and again. It's good when you can do this before falling asleep.

My therapist told me this works - but it needs a lot of practising. I think it's worth it, nightmares are horrible.

If there are questions, please feel free to write a pm - I hope you can understand it though, well-known language problems. :roll:
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Re: Anxiety, Panic and Sleeping Tips

Post by Licentia Poetica » Thu Dec 09, 2010 1:02 pm

Bumping because I was looking for this and couldn't find it.
:redstar: the time to tell a person you care is now :redstar: the paper crane chain of hope :redstar:

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