Night Time Anxiety is Real. Here is how to deal with it.

As a child when I couldn’t fall sleep I would be asked to count sheep and I definitely would asleep within minutes. Conversely when I fast forward my life to the current day, I am engulfed with anxiety more at night. There are days when I am exhausted, overwhelmed with fatigue and can see my bed every passing second. These days then change into days where I spend my time only tossing and turning in bed, worrying about everything that could go wrong or has gone wrong. Gradually I discovered there is something known as “night time anxiety” too.

Anxiety as normal an emotion as happiness or sadness. We are all bound to be anxious when we experience fear or are trying something new. Anxiety usually pays a flying visit to mostly everyone. It can be troublesome when anxiety decides to linger for longer than expected. When I began researching more on this topic, I realized anxiety seemed to be permanent visitor at nighttime just like overthinking.

Did you know that the major cause of anxiety at night time is over all sleep deprivation? However, how does one manage to get enough sleep when you suffer from anxiety? So it is more like a viscous circle that needs to be broken.

Here are a few symptoms of anxiety. Not everyone will have the same symptoms of anxiety. Almost everyone will face anxiety at different times than you.

Common Symptoms of Anxiety or Night Time Anxiety

• Feeling of nervousness, feeling worrisome or restless.( Like you have some unfinished business or something isn’t right}
• You cannot concentrate properly. Your concentration seems to speed past you and you tend to lose your focus often.
• Acidity or gastro problem could also arise when you are feeling anxious
• Trouble falling asleep and feeling doomed.

Seldom there are times when an anxiety can lead to panic attack. These panic attacks can be of different severity in nature. You know you are having a panic attack when you have these one or more of these symptoms

Common Symptoms of a Panic Attack

• Increased heartbeat. It’s almost like your heart beating in your mouth kind of feeling.
• Feeling very gloomy and depressed.
• You feel shortness of breath and like something is stuck in your throat
• Feeling hot flushes or chills.
• Feeling like giving up on everything and secluding yourself from everything around you.

In case any of the above symptoms is very severe and you are unable to calm down.it is best to seek medical help immediately.

There are various reasons why anxiety could occur and reasons could be different for different people.

• Lack of sleep, procrastinating sleep with screen time and other sleep issues correlate with anxiety.
• Stress levels -Your thoughts could be continuously racing through your mind. It feels like water gushing down with force and you are unable to control it.
• A persisting medical condition can aggravate anxiety too.

Ways to tackle Anxiety and Stress

Here is how you can manage and tackle anxiety. You would definitely need medical assistance as well to keep it under wraps consistently.

• Absolutely avoid disturbing your sleep schedule. Ensure you wake up and get up almost at the same time everyday
• Avoid fried and heavy foods for dinner. Stay away from food that can cause heart burn or acidity.
• Say no to coffee, tea or drinks that have caffeine in them.Caffiene can sometimes take up to 8 hours to wear off. Caffeine is sometimes known to invite more panic attacks than usual.
• Keep your day time naps short and avoid napping after 3pm.
• Keep your bedroom, cool and quiet. You need to ensure that your mattress is comfortable and you avoid too much exposure to the screen before sleeping.
• In case you wake up from your sleep and are unable to fall asleep, try to do something relaxing
• Meditation helps regulate sleep cycle too.
• Listening to relaxing music while sleeping can help you ease the stress too.
• A hot shower can help relax your muscles and help you fall asleep easily too.
• Plan and Schedule your tasks for the day and leave some buffer time for deadlines too.
• Try and be more mindful about things. You can leave notes and reminders for yourself as well.

Anxiety is a common phenomenon for most people however with certain lifestyle changes and medical assistance you can definitely keep it under check.Here is great article that can throw light on causes, symptoms and solutions of night time anxiety.