“He who is not everyday conquering some fear has not learned the secret to life.”
-Ralph Waldo Emerson
In this podcast episode, I provide strategies and tools for night time anxiety. I go over my experiences suffering from anxiety in the late hours of the night and how I overcame it. The monsters certainly come out when you shut off all he distractions and its just you and your own mind. How can we reduce this stress so that you can finally get a nights rest you deserve? Below are the key points discussed in this episode.
- I first talk about my anxiety around sleep when I was a kid. As soon as my parents left the room, I usually would stay up worrying whether or not I was going to get a proper nights rest. Where or whom did I get this idea/program from? That in order to function properly the following day I need to get a certain amount of hours? This only added to the pressure of me getting to sleep.
- I remember watching stimulating TV programs before bed. Do you think this kept me up? In Matthew Walkers book Why We Sleep, he says that stimulation from TV, phones, computers all suppress melatonin making it more difficult to fall asleep.
- In my mid 20’s, my sleep patterns became inconsistent and worse. The film industry jobs I has threw my circadian rhythm way off. I was going to sleep sometimes at 2am. But not only that, I was bombarded with ‘what if’ thoughts every time I placed my head on the pillow. The anxiety I had over the thoughts of the following day kept me up. Sometimes I would wake up at 2am in a sweat thinking, “how am I going to get through tomorrow?”
- When the distractions disappear and its just you and your own mind, the insecurities and fears lurking in your unconscious bubble up. The things that you haven’t confronted make themselves known.
- What are some strategies to combat night anxiety? First, no distractions 1 hr before bed like TV or cell phone usage. Then, write out all of your negative thoughts onto paper. This is a powerful release exercise. After, write out a rough schedule for tomorrow so that you are not ruminating over your ‘what if’ thoughts and uncertainty. Then, most importantly, sit in a meditation and run through the next day the way you want it to go. This will change your emotional energy and lessen the uncertainty of what is to happen.