i cant sleep and i work in 4 hours

[Johnnie1234]

my heart is beating funny and my head feels funny like dizzy but its like i could feel my palptations alot its annoying and getting me worried it feels like its rwcing but then when i touch it dont feel like its racing its beating a bit slow that worries me also and i need to go to sleep but my heart feels like something wrong mean while im just layingdown what could this be i dont think its anxiety right now feels like its more physically

[Calm_mama]

Hi Johnnie1234,

Your anxiety is causing your nerves to be sensitized, that's all. And when nerves are sensitized there are hundreds of physical symptoms that come along and because anxiety is already on such high alert, it mistakes these symptoms as serious, important, and something it should help you fight. So it keeps sending out the stress hormones so you can "fight or flight". Anxiety starts to quiet down when you understand it well, and stop believing it

My suggestion for tonight is for any night you can't sleep!

-Get up

- do something, anything that will help you keep your mind off of your body, even just a little

-do something you like (I get up and plan trips, cook, bake and write letters- real letters, not emails )

- if you start to feel sleepy, go back to bed

- if you fall asleep,great. If not, that's OK too- get up after 30" and do something again

- get up when it's time to go to work (whether you slept or not) and shower and go

Some of your sleepless fog should lift a little by afternoon. You'll make it through the day, I assure you.

Then moving forward, sleep hygiene helps: denverpsychiatry.com/resour...

Sleep is very overrated in the anxious person's mind. Insomnia- especially insomnia due to anxious thinking, responds very well to the same treatment for anxiety itself. Lean into it. Don't fear it. It's just anxiety and it won't hurt you. It's just a sleepless night (or in my case, 2, or 3 sometimes!! ) and it won't hurt you, I guarantee it. Yes, it's uncomfortable, as are all the symptoms of anxiety, but it won't hurt you.

I have had amazing resources help me through anxiety and insomnia- I repeat them like a broken record. Claire Weekes, of course, and a few others I really like. You can look at my older posts if you like and see what they are. They really support recovery!