Day time sleeping

[Rachms11]

Does anyone else who has anxiety/depression sleep in the day time and wake up with restless legs and fast heart rate? And feeling confused and nervous? I have this and it's freaking me out. I don't know why it's happening

[blackcat64013]

Hi Rachms11,

Anything that occurs while asleep or in the twilight zone just before or after, can be a cause for concern for you but usually not serious.

Have you definitely had a diagnosis of the neurological condition Restless Leg Syndrome (RLS) or is it caused by something like sleeping crooked causing you to feel uncomfortable?

RLS is usually caused by dysfunction of a neurotransmitter (a chemical that helps cells in the nervous system communicate with each other) called dopamine.

Non-pharmacological treatments for RLS should be used in conjunction with pharmacologic ones. If you have RLS, you should:

◾Maintain good sleep hygiene, having regular bed times and rising times

◾Ensure that you achieve at least 7 hours of sleep per night

◾Avoid being sleep-deprived, as this can exacerbate RLS and PLMD

◾Avoid caffeine, alcohol, nicotine and heavy meals before retiring to bed

◾Perform moderate physical activity during the day (such as brisk walking)

◾Avoid excessive physical exercise before bed-time, as this tends to make RLS and PLMD worse

The other thing I picked up on is sleeping during the day. If you are not a shift worker you should try and get your sleep during the night. A 20 minute nap is okay because you do not go into the deep sleep part of your sleep cycle.

Food for thought - dopamine is one of the chemicals implicated in mental health and the recommendations for treatment apply to getting good quality sleep for everyone

[Rachms11 in reply to blackcat64013]

Hi thanks so much for your detailed reply! I tend to sleep in the daytime cuz I don't have a job at the moment and I get bored or I feel abit anxious or depressed. I feel tired when I'm depressed. And no motivation to do much. Bed is like my "safe happy place". Even though I wake up usually feeling more depressed. Weird cycle isn't it? Don't know why I do it somedays. I sleep during the day about once a week. how can I stop this?

[blackcat64013 in reply to Rachms11]

Hi Rachms11,

When we are struggling with depression (feeling sad, tired and generally unmotivated) we often get stuck in a vicious cycle of inactivity - in general we do less.

One of the best things to do is to increase your activity levels such as hobbies, health related food and fitness (walking), relaxation and self care.

Make a printed schedule for the coming week each Sunday night is one way of planning to do more. You can even add stickers for the things you achieved to see how much you did or missed out on.

Finding the extra energy to do these things involves improving your sleep hygiene first and foremost. I have put a link here for you to follow but there are many more to research online using Dr Google

sleepfoundation.org/sleep-t...

Hoping you will be up to making these small improvement for a bigger reward

[Rachms11 in reply to blackcat64013]

Thanks so much

[Rachms11 in reply to blackcat64013]

Also I forgot to mention most times when I go to bed at night or wake up in the morning my legs feel achy?