Anxiety About Stuff Going On

[suemoni]

Hello Everyone. I've Had Panic, Anxiety Disorder For Over 40 Years Almost All of My Life. For The Most Part I Manage My Anxious Feelings By Just Letting Go or Focusing On Something Else Besides ME. There's a lot Going On In The World Right Now. I Work In Alternative News, So I Am Bombarded By All Types of News Articles. I've Been Doing This Type of Work for Almost 9 Years Now and I Enjoy What I Do. Lately as World Situations Intensify I Feel My Anxiety Increasing and I Think I Might Have a Touch of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder from Being Exposed On A Daily Basis To Disturbing News Articles. I Am an EXCELENT Sleeper, Sleeping Could Be My 2nd Job. (Smile) Lately My Sleeping Patterns are Totally Off. Whenever I Drift Off To Sleep, Something Wakes Me Up Suddenly. Like if I Hear Myself Breathing Too Loud or if I Hear Myself Beginning To Snore I Wake Up Suddenly. It Feels Like I Wake Up Hyperventilating a Little Bit The I'll Drift Back Of To Sleep and The Same Thing Happens Again Throughout The Night. When I Am Dead Tired I'll Go To Sleep and I'll Sleep All Night. I Work at Home So My Sleeping Schedule Can Be a Bit Up/Down. I Sleep When I Am Tired, But Sometimes I Jump Up Out of My Sleep Throughout The Night Feeling Like I'm Hyperventilating. Then When I Get Up For The Day My Anxiety Kicks In and I Feel Like I'm Not Getting Enough Air, But I'm Breathing Just Fine, My Lungs Are Clear and My Oxygen Level is 100%. I Know This is All Related To My Anxiety About Stuff Going On In The World and My Work as a News Commentator. I Work For Myself, So I Decided To Cut Back A lot and Repair and Rest My Mind, Body and Spirit. I'm Dedicated To What I Do, But My Mental/Emotional Health is A lot More Important To Me. Just Want To Share and Ask if Anyone Else Has Ever Experienced Similar Symptoms When Tryin To Sleep. I Thank All of You In Advance For Your Amazing Replies and Assistance..

[Agora1]

Hi suemoni, that is a very common issue for most anxiety ridden people. Put that togetherwith your job related issues and you can get into a broken cycle of sleep.

Knowing that your subconscious mind replays the day's events over and over while you sleep is most likely causing the hyperventilation and jumping up in fear throughout the night.

What I have used for years is calming meditation and breathing practice, 3 times a day.

Upon awakening, mid afternoon and before sleep. It's basically a retraining and replacing

positive thoughts with the negative ones present during the day. After a while, your mind

will be calmer and at peace as it replays the positive thoughts you programmed it with. xx

[suemoni in reply to Agora1]

Thank You Agora.. I Am Working On My Breathing. I Have a Habit of Holding My Breath or Taking Short Breaths When I Am Working During The Day and I Know That's Not A Healthy Thing For Me To Do. So When I Realize I Am Not Breathing Properly I STOP and Focus On Breathing Properly. Hopefully I Am Retraining My Brain. When I Sleep at Night I Keep My TV On A Peaceful Program Because I Hear The TV While I am Sleeping and That Too Can Disturb My Rest. I Have Several Meditation Videos That I Enjoy Listening Too at Night, So I Think I Will Also Focus More On Listening To My Meditation Videos at Night. What I Think is Most Important is I Am Cutting Back On My Daily Work Load. Working at Home I Tend To Overwork Myself, But I Truly Enjoy What I Do, But I Must Set Up a Descent Cut Off Time. I'm Gonna Take Your Suggestion To Heart and I Will Do What I Need Too To Make Positive Changes. Thank You So Much For Your Reply Agora.