Anxiety worse at night

[DominiqueA1024]

Im a single mom to special needs child and my days are tough. I suffer with anxiety throughout the day but the closer I get to bed time the worse it gets. I tend to get panic attacks when I'm trying to fall asleep. I get weird head sensations, chest pain, rapid heart beat, weak legs and tight muscles in the head and face. Why does my anxiety escalate at night? Im sick of this!

[GMason]

Very often anxiety can increase at night because our head wakes up, I find the best thing to do is not to try to sleep but do something that tires you instead, for example go to bed and read constantly or watch tv constantly your mind will fall asleep naturally.

[GMason]

I am the same, anytime I go to bed and try to sleep my head wakens and I think about everything, a great way to do it too is have a never ending line of videos cued up you can watch that will just run, sometimes of the same thing for example a line of sitcoms.

[DominiqueA1024 in reply to GMason]

I do notice I don't get the attacks when I fall asleep watching tv, it's when I actually lay down and try to force myself to sleep

[GMason in reply to DominiqueA1024]

Yes I am the same too, I think it's because life is so busy and then we stop everything and then there's nothing for our minds to process so inevitably when it has nothing it starts processing negative things, anything you like watching that is relaxing?

[DominiqueA1024 in reply to GMason]

I have a whole ton of shows I watch that are sitting on my Dvr lol

[GMason in reply to DominiqueA1024]

Perfect, DVRS are great for that as they can have never ending content, I would pick a show that can run all night, make it something that's not manic, put the volume on low enough to fall asleep but loud enough to hear and watch till you blackout

[blackcat64013]

Hi Dominique,

Anxiety gets worse at night because your brain is no longer distracted by events of the day which keep the worst of the symptoms of control.

My psychologist uses the analogy of a black dog on a leash. When on the leash, the dog is under control. As soon as the leash is removed, the dog can go where it likes. This is what happens with your brain cells.

Quality sleep is one of the most important activities you must get in 24 hours. You need to take some steps to get your night time sleep under control so that your brain repairs and prepares for the next day.

There are quite a few over the counter natural medications you can try to improve sleep. Guided meditation before bed might help and of course, there are the knock out medications.

I suggest you see your doctor for a mental health review and discuss the treatment plan that is likely to work for you. A psychologist can help you work through anxiety and panic attacks so be sure to include a few sessions of talking therapy in the treatment plan.

[GMason in reply to blackcat64013]

Good point on all of these too, As black cat as stated natural meds can be helpful too, valerian is a good aid to naturally help sleep if you can get some where you are located

[DominiqueA1024 in reply to blackcat64013]

I notice when I have an attack I wake up the next morning feeling crappy and Sick. I'll look into the things you suggested 🙂 Thanks

[Finglas-Boy]

I can relate. Following TBI Ive no regular sleep pattern. Plays havoc with any sense of control/normality to the day.