SLEEP PROBLEMS.

Good morning everyone,my anxiety has started to mess with my sleep now waking after only a couple of hours then evey hour through the night.Any ideas or sugestions much appricated as knackered.

[Bramwell]

I go through phases of that one.

I've never found anything which really helps I'm afraid. I did try herbal remedies but they just made me feel spaced-out and muzzy the next morning.

I quite often am awake by 5am and very anxious, so I just try and relax by reading then sometimes drop back off for an hour or so.

[Hidden]

Hi I was like that I now have 2 cups of sleep tea before I go to bed and I sleep quite well now.It dosent stop the anxiety first thing in the morning though

[Hidden]

I struggle to get to sleep at a decent time at night,when i do finally drop of i never sleep solid and i wake each morning feeling like i havent been to bed and anxious! I welcome any advice,ive been told to exercise but at the moment i dont have the energy and enthusiasm to do anything!

[Holisticstress]

Waking up a lot with racing thoughts sounds like " monkey mind" some duaphramatic breathing can help as well as having a shower before you go to bed the shower will cool your body and prepare it for sleep also have a word with your GP and see if they might prescribe melatonin

[DavCu]

Hi, the nice guidlines for sleep problems based on the peer reviewed research suggest that sleeping tablets can be effective, but ONLY!! for short term sleeping problems.

The treatment that has been shown to be effective for insomnia in the research is CBTI (cognitive behaviour therapy for insomnia). In the 'overcoming' series of book, which some nhs trusts use in a 'books on prescription service', where the authors have to be leading experts in theior field to write one of those books, the book on sleep is by Professor Colin Espie who is a world expert on CBT for insomnia and director of the Glasgow University Sleep Centre. So I would advice buying this book. Furthermore, if you have ever come across fear fighter for anxiety or beating the blues for depression, Colin Espie has developed an online course like this for sleep called sleepio - sleepio.com . You can try it free for a week, and people who have done it already (such as me) might be able to get you a code to get a discount.