Anxiety Treatment NYC: Recognize the Link Between Poor Sleep and Anxiety

It is no secret that mental and physical health depends on proper rest. It isn’t uncommon to feel irritable and on edge after a sleepless night. 

Perhaps your sleep trouble started with a habit of scrolling through social media when you should be winding down. Or you couldn’t resist the temptation to work through the night a few times a week, “just to get ahead.”  Maybe you never really got back to resting well after years of the pandemic, televised political drama, and personal upheaval.

Whatever the reason, you may now find that your sleep and anxiety seem frustratingly tied.

According to the American Psychiatric Association, most adults are best served by 7 to 9 hours of restorative sleep each night. Ongoing sleep disruptions can lead to and exacerbate low moods and cycles of anxious rumination and depressive thinking.

Why does this happen? An inability to wind down and sleep soundly activates your body’s natural stress hormone, cortisol. When this hormone rises and remains in your body, mental clarity, concentration, and mood are negatively affected. If you are particularly prone to negative thinking and avoidance, anxiety can result. This then impacts your motivation, judgment, and perception over time. 

Additionally, it should be noted that attempts to make up lost sleep don’t typically succeed once the sleeplessness-anxiety cycle takes hold.  For example, a “sleep debt” created by no sleep or disjointed sleep during the work week isn’t significantly overcome by artificial attempts to oversleep with sleep aids or substance use on the weekends. You’re just likely to feel more lethargic and vulnerable to unhelpful thought patterns and unhelpful beliefs about sleep itself.

So, how can you avoid the anxiety-inducing fallout of sleep deprivation or insufficient restorative sleep?

Anxiety Treatment NYC: Develop an Anti-Anxiety Bedtime Routine

A key part of securing the best sleep possible? Finding ways to soothe your nervous system or “ wind down.” To combat a rise in anxiety-related cortisol, try taking the following measures:

1. Create a favorable sleep environment. 

To combat distraction and anxiety, view your bed as a place for sleep only. Office work, television, and more are better left in other spaces. Incorporate the following in your bedroom:

  • A dark, slightly cool environment (68 degrees is ideal).
  • A comfortably firm mattress with loose bedding.
  • A white noise machine, if you find it soothing.
  • Exposure to natural light ensures a healthy sleep-wake cycle.
  • Limited artificial light. Research shows blue light from media screens keeps your brain on alert.

2. Practice helpful sleep hygiene.

The National Sleep Foundation, notes that sleep hygiene is a group of bedtime activities “necessary to have normal, quality nighttime sleep and full daytime alertness.” Consider the following ideas:

  • Learn progressive muscle relaxation or deep breathing exercises.
  • Enjoy sex prior to bedtime to help you sleep soundly.
  • Avoid napping earlier in the day to keep sleep cycles regulated.
  • Refrain from stimulating exercise. Stretch rather than jog.
  • Resist caffeine, alcohol, or smoking right before bed. 

3.  Intentionally, put worry in its place. 

 Here are a few helpful ways to put your mind at ease before heading for bed:

  • Save the scrolling until tomorrow. Unplug and detach yourself from your devices.
  • Avoid conflict and confrontational conversations at bedtime.
  • Get your worries off your mind and on the pages of a journal.
  • Combat mental chatter by listing all of your to-do items and activities in a planner daily. 
  • Try meditation techniques or prayer.
  • Practice focusing on positive thoughts, visualizing happy places, and concentrating on comforting memories.

Most of all, challenge the idea that “you can’t sleep” and feeling irritable, groggy, or exhausted is inescapable. You aren’t alone. Regaining control of your health and well-being is possible and may simply require time and a bit of help.

Anxiety Treatment NYC: Seek Support for Less Anxiety & More Sleep

Whether you aren’t sleeping because you’re ruminating over your to-do list or because you’re worried about the impact of not sleeping, you’re likely exhausted. To reclaim your energy and head off the resulting trouble in your life and relationships, please reach out for help. Connecting with a therapist can support calm, clarity, and a healthier emotional response to uncertainty and anxiety. 

Let’s meet to consider how you can relax and sleep soundly every night. Learn more about our Anxiety Treatment counseling services soon.

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