Sleep Therapy: Everything You Need to Know
How To Sleep Better: 5 Tips To Getting a Good Night’s Rest
Table of Contents
Do you have a sense of fear of stress when you think about falling asleep? Anxiety is a common mental disorder, and people with anxiety or depression are more likely to experience anxiety about falling asleep.
Sleep insomnia can be a vicious cycle. Anxiety keeps you awake, and your inability to sleep makes you even more anxious. Learning to manage insomnia will end the cycle.
Understand the Link Between Insomnia and Anxiety
Most of us need at least seven hours of sleep a night to function properly. Teenagers may need 8 to 10 hours, and children who are 6 to 13 need 9 to 11 hours. Without it, we’re inviting anxiety in.
A long-term study published in the Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology found that children who had trouble sleeping were more likely to develop anxiety in adulthood. This was true even after controlling for factors like socioeconomic status. As they concluded, persistent sleep problems in childhood may be an early risk indicator of anxiety in adulthood.
Pull the Plug on Technology
We’ve heard a lot about the ills of social media, but did you know that it can also affect your ability to sleep? A study of social media use and wellbeing among adolescents found that those who used it more, especially at night, were more likely to suffer from poor sleep and higher anxiety.
The researchers also found that those who were more emotionally invested in social media experienced poorer sleep quality, lower self-esteem and higher levels of anxiety and depression.
It’s difficult for adolescents to use social media without becoming emotionally involved in it. These habits can do more harm than good when it comes to sleep and anxiety.
Set Limits on Your Social Media Use
If you are an adolescent who’s frequently on social media, shut down the devices at least two hours before your bedtime. If you’re reading this as the parent of an adolescent, it may be wise to set strict rules about using the internet and social media, especially in the evening.
It isn’t just teenagers who struggle to disengage from social media and pay for it with poor sleep. A study of college students found that almost half reported waking up in the middle of the night to check their text messages or answer phone calls. They suggested that students who have difficulty setting boundaries around technology use may be at increased risk for psychological health concerns.
Talk To a Doctor or Therapist
If your anxiety is making it impossible to get a good night’s sleep, talk to your doctor or a mental health professional. Your inability to sleep may be so closely entwined with your anxiety that you may need help to unravel and manage both problems.
Cognitive-behavioral therapy has emerged as the mainstream treatment for insomnia, especially among people who don’t want to take prescription sleep medications. Analyses of clinical data show that it is a good treatment for chronic insomnia.
Learning to manage your insomnia will help resolve the vicious cycle of sleeplessness and sleep anxiety.
Hypnosis and Self-Hypnosis Can Help
According to the Bulletin of the Menninger Clinic, hypnotherapy and training in self-hypnosis can help a person achieve remarkable success in alleviating anxiety, not only in anxiety disorders but in any problem involving anxiety.
The same report found that an integral part of hypnotic treatment involves training in self-hypnosis, which allows patients to continue the treatment on their own.
Learning self-hypnosis can be an enormous help in letting go of all types of anxiety, including those connected to your sleep insomnia.
Get Help from UpNow
At UpNow, you’ll find hypnosis downloads that can help you deal with anxiety and overcome your sleep issues. These downloads were developed by certified hypnotherapists trained in Europe and the U.S
Learning hypnosis is an enjoyable experience, and it can enhance every aspect of your life. If anxiety is getting in your way, learn how hypnosis downloads from UpNow can help. It’s easy to get started with a free trial plan.
UpNow Health only uses high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed articles, to support the facts within our articles. All our articles are reviewed by experts to ensure that our content is accurate, helpful, and trustworthy.
1. National Association for the Mentally Ill: Anxiety Disorders. Links.
2. Cleveland Clinic: Anxiety. Link.
3. WebMD: How Many Hours of Sleep Do I Need?
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5. Heather Cleland Woods, Holly Scott,
#Sleepyteens: Social media use in adolescence is associated with poor sleep quality, anxiety, depression and low self-esteem, J. Adolescence, Vol. 51, 2016, pp. 41-49, ISSN 0140-1971, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.adolescence.2016.05.008.(https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0140197116300343)
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