If you are reading this article, then it is most probably the case that at least once in your life you have experienced some form of anxiety. Those of you experiencing anxiety during the hours of the night will tend to agree that this will make you feel uneasy and one would struggle to go back to sleep.
Experts say that the most common contributor to anxiety is when a person frequently deals with high levels of stress. Drinking alcohol and checking your phone before going to bed also contributes to anxiety.
Anxiety can occur at any time of the day. In this article, we shall be discussing how anxiety affects you during the night.
Psychologists explain that not everyone experiences anxiety in the same way. Anxiety during the night may cause you to wake up at unusually early hours, giving you the feeling of not having had enough sleep. People experiencing anxiety during the night may also have nocturnal panic attacks. These panic attacks have the same symptoms as a daytime attack, ranging from heart palpitations to feelings of extreme fear.
Anxiety may also creep in your dreams, disrupting your overall sleep. When this happens, people will normally feel panicked and nervous, and a rush of emotions can easily wake you up from your sleep. Usually, a person who wakes up from an anxiety dream immediately feels terrified, wondering whether it was simply a dream or reality. One common anxiety dream which some of you may have experienced is missing your final exam. Usually these dreams do not signify anything deeper than perhaps some subconscious worries.
Psychologists provide various tips on how one can prevent night-time anxiety. A 2015 study found that meditation helps improve the quality of your sleep and has the ability to reduce symptoms of insomnia and depression.
Physical activity is advantageous and improves one’s mood and therefore mitigates the feeling of anxiousness. Doctors also state that in order to avoid anxiety, it is important to maintain a strict sleep schedule which includes going to bed and waking up at a consistently regular time. It is important that your bedroom is set up in a manner that facilitates sleep.
Another solution which has been tried and tested is writing down your worries in a journal around two hours before bedtime. This allows you to process these thoughts earlier on in the day and you won’t feel the urge to think about them again during the night.
