Symptoms of anxiety can include;
Extreme worry
Extreme tension or fear
Fatigue
Loss of focus or clarity of mind
A difficulty concentrating
Depression or mood swings
Feelings of sadness or loneliness or low self-esteem
Shortness of breath
Migraines
Sleeplessness
Sensitivity to noise, light, heat or smoke
Avoidance of situations that may trigger thoughts of death, harm or other bad events
Blue nails
Headache
Joint pain or pain
Skin changes, including a rash or bumps on face, neck, chest, stomach, back, arms, legs or feet.
The symptoms occur when the patient fails to get enough sleep. This usually begins after the patient has fallen asleep and ends when it stops again. Over time, some people experience episodes in which they wake up several times per night without clearly remembering the last time they fell asleep. A person with depression will have more frequent awakenings than someone with no mental illness.
Causes
Symptoms can be caused by another factor like stress, medications, sleep disturbance, pregnancy, medication use, poor diet, aging, genetic inheritance, medical conditions and more. But as mentioned earlier, these can occur at any time so anxiety disorders don’t always lead to insomnia. There are some specific causes in that those who suffer from some form of anxiety generally have more trouble sleeping. Some of them are:
Overactive brain waves (delta, gamma, and beta bands)
Brain lesions or tumors
Genetic abnormalities
Poor oxygenation
Poor blood flow to limbs
Poor circulation to the heart
Poor quality sleep and regular daytime sleepiness
Poor quality food intake (e.g., high sugar intake)
Poor diet intake
Hyperthyroidism (overactive thyroid hormone)
Erectile dysfunction
Cancer (unawareness of one’s own cancer)
Low physical activity
In addition, it is often found that the person suffers from emotional disturbance like anxiety, depression or stress and this makes it difficult for him or her to sleep at any given time. These emotional disturbances can cause lack of sleep. People also have the habit of overthinking, especially if they are suffering from social phobia or a traumatic event. If you sleep without the presence of such emotional disturbance then chances are good that you’ll not get as much sleep as you need because your brain is constantly thinking about problems that you can’t solve and you are also losing sleep at nights, weekends or even during the week because your brain is constantly telling your body to try to calm down. This is an important topic because most people nowadays take various prescription drugs like Zolpidem, Chlorpromazine, SSRIs and others and all of these are used for psychological relief. So it’s better to monitor your medication and its side effects of insomnia because if you don’t take these medicines then eventually, your nervous system will go haywire.
How to treat insomnia?
Treatment of insomnia is mainly through sleeping pills and treatment of anxiety using antidepressants. However, there’s not much improvement that patients can attain so this means that they still rely on their doctors and that doesn’t work well for a long time. Also, they’ve to take lots and lot of supplements and drugs and in most cases, only these will help them temporarily but later they will return to old habits of having sleepless nights again. So it’s really important to monitor what you’re taking or consuming and how much you’re taking because at times, over and over again your body needs a little bit too much caffeine and this will eventually make you feel drained and tired that you can’t keep going. I’d suggest that you do a doctor’s consultation. Do they suggest a special treatment plan for you? Because if yes, then the next step is to find out if it would be beneficial for you because this is where many people end up struggling. If you have severe depression, then a psychiatrist will prescribe for you a medicated medicine and in some cases, they may recommend you another type of drug called Seroquel because it makes it easier for you to fall asleep.
If you have chronic fatigue syndrome then you may be asked to take anti-depressants or antianxiety pills. They may not help you if you have already taken any other kind of medicine for it but they can improve your memory, concentration, ability to think logically and your overall ability to focus and remember things. Another way to cope with insomnia is to change your environment and try to make a difference wherever you spend your nights. The first place to start is changing your surroundings, your room, the furniture, the decorations and the environment. Try looking into new hobbies. Try reading books or magazines. Take advantage of bedside tables. Replace the plastic cover with something made of wood and fabric. If possible, open windows and doors because outside noises usually aggravate your sleeping and waking habits. It seems easy to stay up until 3am by putting a blanket, but the truth is, your body has been there before that so you can’t expect it to not have an impact on it unless of course you have a window open. Then you just need to get rid of the outside world around yourself and think positively and that’s what we should be seeking in everything we do. It may sound silly, but you need to change things if you want to get better sleep and anxiety problems like insomnia.
A word about the links between the two:
If you experience occasional difficulty getting to sleep due to depression, then it may be an indication that you could be suffering from anxiety but then you might need to look deeper to determine whether the problem is related to sleep disturbance or insomnia. For example, if you sleep very little and your memory goes blank in those hours and you’re experiencing worrying thoughts about something or someone else, then that could be indicating that you may be worried about not being able to sleep or having excessive daytime sleepiness. Similarly, if you experience any difficulty in remaining asleep for a few hours or not getting to sleep completely, then it might be an indicator you may have had a previous episode or that anxiety is causing you difficulty in sleeping.
In both circumstances, you should discuss with your therapist about finding out what the root cause might be and whether anxiety should be treated with medicine, therapy or lifestyle changes. It’s also helpful to talk with a qualified pharmacist, a trained professional in treating mental health disorders, or a consultant about ways to manage your anxiety symptoms. Your doctor may consider working with you on taking natural remedies for common anxiety disorders. For example, there are studies on teas that are specially designed to help people sleep better. There are herbs, vitamins and herbal therapies that have been shown to have positive effects on anxious minds. Taking green tea seems to have the same effect, especially in the case of women. You’ll also want to speak with friends, family members and/or a support group about what you’re doing to relax or to cope with things. When you have someone you trust and love by your side, that will bring peace and help you get more sleep and more rest.
The link between anxiety and insomnia
If anxiety helps you get better sleep, it probably won’t help your sleep disorder too, but it can alleviate your daily symptoms of sleep disturbances and lessen the amount of daytime sleep you need.
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