Anxiety And Insomnia: What's The Connection?

Anxiety and insomnia are both broad terms; both relate to a complex of different symptoms and outcomes and are often linked in some way. While anxiety is a state that is not necessarily detrimental to health, however, if it becomes chronic and unmanaged, it can impact on many aspects of personal wellbeing; including sleep.

The term insomnia refers to a constellation of symptoms including:

-Difficulty falling asleep -Frequent waking throughout the night -Waking up early and finding it difficult to fall back asleep -Tiredness upon waking -Difficulty napping, even when tired

In many cases, these conditions are present in individuals at the same time. Does that mean that anxiety causes insomnia, or insomnia causes anxiety? Ultimately, it depends on the individual and their situation. It can be the case where symptoms of both arise simultaneously, but the key point to consider is how both of these states interact with each other.

Picture the scenario: You have had to stay up late the night before to finish urgent reports for work and struggled to sleep well one you got to bed because you had a lot on your mind. Now you feel an anxious pressure to sleep well tonight to make up for it, but this only makes you concerned when you don’t manage to fall asleep right away. Your blood pressure rises and your mind begins racing as you become anxious that you won’t fall asleep. This is a common cycle; one that often ties anxiety and insomnia together.

So what can you do about this?

Thankfully, there are a variety of no-cost and simple things you can do to help alleviate anxiety and promote sleep hygiene.

• Practise light, slow and deep nasal breathing: Slow nasal breathing that engages the diaphragm has a series of beneficial effects on affect, blood pressure and hormones.

• Try to keep a tight schedule: By aiming to sleep and wake at the same time each day, our circadian rhythm (our internal clock) becomes more synchronised, promoting wakefulness during the day, and drowsiness at night.

• Avoid technology and artificial lighting after the sun has gone down: Artificial lights from you home and electronic devices can be detrimental to circadian rhythms and may have a profound impact on your ability to transition to sleep. Minimising your exposure to these types of lights can strengthen your daily rhythm and allow you to feel tired at the appropriate time of the night.

• Avoid caffeine and alcohol as close to your bed time as possible: Caffeine has a half-life of roughly 7.5 hours, meaning that 7.5 hours after you have a cup of coffee or tea, half of the caffeine from that beverage is still circulating in your bloodstream. Avoiding caffeine later in the day can help to prevent unwanted alertness at night. Alcohol has a negative effect on the cyclic nature of sleep. Alcohol can prevent rapid eye movement (REM) sleep, reducing the quality of your rest even when there is adequate quantity. Both caffeine and alcohol also have anxiety promoting effects in some individuals so abstaining from these chemicals altogether can be extremely helpful to some.

• Engage in regular physical activity: Movement has a variety of beneficial effects on the mind and body. Exercise promotes drowsiness at night and is a powerful tool in reducing anxiety. Some studies suggest that regular physical exercise can reduce symptoms of anxiety and depression as well as leading pharmaceutical interventions.

To be concise, anxiety and insomnia often exist together and increase the other’s symptoms. Fortunately, there are many simple and no-cost strategies that you can use to alleviate the problems associated with anxiety and lack of sleep.