10 tips for sleeping at night when you have anxiety

When we experience a period of stress, one of the functions that is affected is rest and the ability to sleep well, affecting and worsening our condition even more.

Sleeping is essential for the proper functioning and rest of our body and our brain, and for this reason we must give it the importance of being able to do it properly. Various strategies have been tried and may be helpful in getting ready for bed, in getting sleep more easily and at the same time also benefit the decrease in the feeling of stress.

One of the most important factors is to establish a suitable routine not only at night, which helps us to relax, but also during the day, set a time to exercise or a suitable duration in the case that we want to do nap. Even so, if you see that your discomfort persists, you can't sleep and you feel more and more tired, go to the doctor and ask for professional help.

In this article you will know the importance of sleeping and having adequate rest and what strategies can be carried out to get to sleep when you find yourself in times of stress and anxiety.

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Why is it essential to sleep well?

Sleep is a fundamental basic need for our body and brain to rest and perform other functions. For example, during the sleep period, the brain consolidates the information acquired during the day in order to improve learning, which is therefore essential at early ages of development. Another event that occurs during sleep is the decrease in brain activity, thus allowing this organ to rest.

Although it may seem like a process that we just do, we realize its complexity when problems arise in order to reconcile it. It is common that in times when we are more worried and anxious, it is more difficult for us to fall asleep, stay asleep or be able to go back to sleep if we wake up during the night. Stress keeps us active and does not let us reach a state of drowsiness.

We must consider the time that this affectation lasts, since if we see that it persists for more than a month and most or all of the days we may have a sleep disorder such as insomnia, it being better in this case to consult a professional to guide us in the Recovery.

In order to improve your sleep in periods of greater stress, here are some tips that may be useful to you.

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Strategies for sleeping in stages of anxiety and stress

As in other areas of our lives, having a good, healthy sleep habit is essential for this process to be carried out correctly. For this purpose, some strategies have been tested that have been favorable to combat insomnia in times of stress. Several of these techniques are used in therapy to deal with sleep disorders, in this way we know that they will be effective.

Each individual enjoys different characteristics and, therefore, some of the advice may work better for us than others, try them and select the ones that are useful to you and best suited to you.

1. Establish a proper routine

The time before falling asleep is crucial for our body to know that bedtime is approaching and thus begin to relax.. So, establish a routine that helps you calm down and prepares you to rest: set a sleep schedule, that is, what time you will go to sleep and when you will wake up, perform activities that signal to your body that you are ready to sleep such as brushing your teeth, turning on the night light, turning off electronic devices or reading a book book.

These previous actions should not be stimulating since in this way we would be giving contradictory signals to our brain and it would remain activated.

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2. Not checking the phone before bed

Currently, it is very common to look at the mobile from bed, even with the light off. This action impairs sleep conciliation, since our brain activates, it thinks it's still daytime, making it difficult for the first phases of sleep to begin. As a routine before going to bed, turn off your mobile or put it on silent and away from your reach so as not to be tempted to pick it up.

3. Prepare a suitable room for sleeping

The environment that surrounds us when we sleep, the environment of our room, must be adequate to favor falling asleep. Make sure the temperature is right, neither cold nor too hot, try to keep the room as dark as possible and try that there are no noises or that these are minimal.

It is also important that you are comfortable in bed, that is, that your mattress and cushion are adequate so that the posture of your body is correct.

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4. relax the mind

In stressful situations, it is common for constant worries and thoughts to arise that do not let us disconnect and continue to increase our anxiety. You may find it useful to perform routines that help you stabilize your mind and at the same time relax, for example write, read or even watch a little television avoiding content that is stressful Yes indeed, it is important that they are not difficult and do not require a great physical or intellectual effort.

These activities help cut off our thoughts and keep us focused on something other than our worries, thus trying to fall asleep better. In the same way, writing also allows us to organize our thoughts and thus reduce stress.

• Related article: "What is Mindfulness? The 7 answers to your questions

5. Don't stay in bed if you don't fall asleep

It has happened to all of us on occasion that we start tossing and turning in bed without being able to fall asleep, making it increasingly difficult to achieve our purpose. If after 15 or 20 minutes you do not fall asleep, it is recommended that you get up and go to another room to relax, for example to the living room, where you can lie down on the sofa, avoid turning on the television or watching the mobile, just lie down, when you notice that you start to fall asleep, go back to your bed to start the sleep.

6. Avoid doing activities other than sleeping in bed

It is essential that you associate the bed with sleeping and not with other activities that you do while awake, such as studying or watching a movie. In this way we seek to perceive the bed as a relaxing stimulus that only gives us rest when we lie down on it.

7. Perform relaxation exercises

In order to reduce anxiety, it can help you to perform relaxation techniques. Lie on your back on the bed and begin to breathe slowly with slow, deep inspirations and expirations. relax your body and focus your attention on different parts of this; notice how they relax and decrease tension. Fixing your attention on your body, on how it relaxes, you also get to stop thinking about worries.

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8. light dinner

If we eat dinner long before going to sleep, our body needs more time to digest all the food and thus it will continue to be activated.. It is also likely that when we go to bed we feel very heavy and too full, making it more difficult to relax and fall asleep. Try to have a light dinner, not a large quantity and food that is not very greasy or difficult to digest, also try not to eat it just before going to bed; This way you will avoid bad digestion.

In the same way, do not consume stimulating foods or drinks such as coffee, coke, tea... That is, caffeinated drinks that activate our body, giving rise to the opposite sensation that we are looking for. Yes, it can help you to drink a hot drink such as milk or an infusion, since they will help you relax.

9. Do sports

Although it is not recommended to do high-intensity sports shortly before going to bed since you generate endorphins that can activate the body, playing sports during the day and doing it regularly, as a routine, does help to sleep more easily, since we help to tire our body more body. It has also been verified that exercise is related to melatonin, hormone linked to sleep.

In addition, practicing sports also directly helps reduce stress and disconnect from our worries. If you are not used to exercising, you can start with lower intensity practices such as yoga or walking a little every day, about 30 minutes.

10. Do not take very long naps

Doing or not taking a nap depends on each person, since not all of us feel equally good or help us to be more productive. But if we decide to sleep a little in the afternoon, this rest period cannot be extended much, it is considered that the time recommended should not exceed 30 minutes, this duration already allows us to rest and is adequate not to hinder sleep night.

likewise also we will avoid taking a nap shortly before going to sleep, that is, we will try to do it in the early afternoon so that the interval between this and the night is as long as possible.