Sunday, December 27, 2009

Sleeplessness and Anxiety

By Gordon Dalwood

Are you desperate to get a good night's sleep but finding it impossible? Do you find yourself tossing and turning all night and when you do drift off, you wake up soon afterwards again? Is this something you've been experience for a few months, or do you experience these bouts every once in a while? Perhaps you've been having these bouts for year already but because they tend to come and go, you've always just battle your way through them. Well, if any of this sounds familiar, then I'm afraid that anxiety may very well be the cause of the insomnia.

Is this possible? Yes, it is indeed. In fact, if you're concerned about your finances, your job, or even some other personal matter to the point where you can no longer enjoy a good night's rest, then there's a strong possibility that you're suffering from anxiety induced insomnia. And, before you try to brush this off as being nothing more that unpleasant, you need to know that if you continue to go without enough sleep, there can be serious consequences.

Just for a minute, try to imagine what it must be like not having a good night's rest for two or three weeks. Do you think you'd still be efficient with regards to your job? The truth is, such problems could have a dramatic impact on your performance at work. Likewise, your home life could also be put in jeopardy and so too could your relationship with friends and family. Irrespective of what anyone tells you, it's crucial that deal with the situation.

Although it's a well known fact that anxiety can often lead to sleepless nights, many people still fail to understand how and why this happens. The reason why anxiety is often accompanied by insomnia is largely due to hyperactivity and restlessness. When you experience disturbing anxiety related thoughts together mental uneasiness, it can become near impossible for you to calm down, and this of course results in insomnia.

There are numerous ways to reduce anxiety in order to eliminate insomnia. In particular, one of the most beneficial things to do is to avoid consuming any substance that will contribute to your anxiety. For example, you should avoid caffeine and other stimulants if you are having trouble sleeping. Bear in mind, it's been proven time and time again that these substances are known to increase and contribute to anxiety.

Frequent and regular exercise is also of vital importance, primarily because anxiety is interconnected with excessive amounts tension and of course, exercise can greatly reduce tension. In fact, just as one can use exercise to burn up calories when you want to loose weight, so too can you use exercise to burn up tension.

Engaging in deep breathing exercises is also helpful. Gaining control of your breathing will contribute greatly to reducing anxiety. This is because deep breathing will slow your respiration and your heart rate. This, in turn, will have a calming effect. That will eventually help restore your normal sleeping patterns.

Anxiety is a serious problem by itself. When it is compounded by issues related to sleeplessness it becomes even more traumatic. Thankfully, there are ways to alleviate both anxiety and sleepless. So, there is hope that you can be in control of your life once again.

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