Sleep Anxiety Is A Real Thing - Here’s How I Handle It

Ever have a night where you lay awake in bed and just think about all the things you need to do the next day, things that you should be doing right now instead of sleeping, or worrying about things that you have no control over? I’m an expert in this. Over the last 2 years since I was diagnosed with the brain tumor, I spent a lot of nights lying awake or worrying about things that I had no control over, such as my double vision, my recovery, the shunt being stable, etc.

What I would recommend to anyone, is to work with your Primary Care Physician to see how they can help you, and look at natural solutions as well. I still suffer from sleep anxiety and it’s something I have to actively work on. I have tried medication to help reduce anxiety and help induce sleep, I have tried Sleepytime Tea, not using electronics or exposing myself to blue light before bed, meditating, and more. Thankfully I have finally found something (or sometimes a combination of things) that works well for me, and I am here to share with you a few things that have helped me to get to sleep faster and stay asleep throughout the course of the night.

My Sleep Tricks:

1.) Listening to a Podcast: This turned out to work really well for me and is something that I still do today. I like listening to a podcast that I am fine with not making it all the way through, preferably one that is light on content. I found that if I listened to a podcast with content that I actually cared about, I was too focused and wasn’t falling asleep. Not to say that these podcasts are also boring, but sometimes you need light and easy content that you can just listen to without really thinking to help take your mind off of what worries you. My go-to podcast that I listen to is “Conan Needs A Friend”. I enjoy listening to him and his assistant and producer interview celebrities, fellow comedians, and actors. The content is light, fun, and enjoyable, and I easily fall asleep because I am focused on their conversations and quickly forget about things that keep me awake.

2.) Listening to a Guided Meditation: This has helped me to relax. Sometimes I will listen to these when I really need to calm any nerves that I have. Sometimes I will do this just to calm down, and then I will turn on a podcast to help me sleep. I don’t find that the guided meditations help me sleep, but they do help me relax, which is the first step in getting a good night’s rest.

3.) Listen to Calming Music: I will find a playlist on Apple Music or Spotify that is just easy songs to listen to that are calming. You definitely do not want to listen to dance jams or anything that will get your energy levels up mentally. You can also curate your own playlist from your library if you have certain relaxing or calming ballads that you like to listen too. John Mayer and Michael Buble have some great tracks for this purpose.

4.) Drink some Tea and Read A Book: Sleepytime Tea is a brand that I would swear by in helping me to fall asleep. The levels of chamomile really help to relax the body and ease you into a deep slumber. I also found that rather than reading on my phone or tablet, that reading a book will tire the eyes, but it’s not blue light so it helps the brain settle down and put me to sleep. I found that I was ready to sleep within about 30-40 minutes of reading or less.

Of course, sometimes natural remedies for sleeping will not always help you out and you might need to work with your Primary Care Physician on some medications that can help. I found that a combination of the medications and using these remedies help on my absolute WORST days, but most times, the natural remedies have really worked for me. I am not one who enjoys taking lots of medications, so if I don’t need to take it I won’t. My hope is that by sharing these few options that something might work for you and help you fall asleep faster and stay asleep longer if suffer from sleep anxiety like me.

Have a natural remedy that works for you that I didn’t list above? Drop a comment below!