Sleep Anxiety | How To BEAT Sleep Anxiety and Overcome Insomnia

[@diannenarrol8630]

Hi Tim, i always watch this video when I’m too anxious to sleep. Lately, my anxiety has been getting the best of me with a lot of interrupted sleep. The second I get a thought in my head, that’s it. I need to just not think of anything and go back to sleep.

[@solid3451]

Duuuuude!!! I have a lot of issues falling asleep. And it makes me anxious every single night when it's about the time for bed. So I'm watching this 9 minute video (didn't even manage to finish it yet) and it made me laugh at first but then I started crying. It made so much sense. It gave me something any other failed to do. You can find everywhere that to make your anxiety wind down, to make your mental health better the best remedy is good night sleep. If you don;t sleep well, you'll have none of those, you can even die out of stroke or something. And that makes my anxiety worse and worse to the point that I'm afraid of going to bad and spinning around not being able to fall asleep. But this video gave me a lot or encouragement that it made me cry out of relief. Thanks mister!

[@TimBoxMindCoach]

Glad this helped. :)

[@LoveDayandAge]

When I lay down at the end of the night, I tell myself "I'm not trying to sleep, its my body's job to do that." I use that time to think about a pleasant memory or some ideas I have...and naturally I fall asleep without having tried at all.

[@TimBoxMindCoach]

Superb. The more people I talk with about this the more I think the engagement in pleasant thoughts might well be the silver bullet when it comes to transforming the busy mind into a sleeping one.

[@hardikshah1423]

Hi Tim, Thanks for making this video. This video brought me to tears because this is exactly what I wanted to hear after having sleep issues for so long. I feel like if I don't fall asleep then it might be "one of those" nights. Usually, I feel very sleepy right up until bed time but as soon as I lie down and close my eyes, I start feeling anxious and then I try different things like meditation, deep breathing, listen to some bed stories. None of it helps because I keep checking if I'm awake(I know its stupid). After 4-5 hours of trying when I'm tired I tell myself I will stop doing everything and just lie until morning and then usually I fall asleep within a few minutes. But I never realized that was the KEY to sleeping until you said it! I have also purchased your book "Clear your head" and it has helped me tremendously with having a better response/control of anxiety. You are THE BEST MIND COACH and I'm extremely grateful to you! Hoping to get my sleep routine back on track after following your advice.

[@TimBoxMindCoach]

Hi. Thanks so much for this comment. I'm glad the thoughts on the videos are proving valuable. Remember to go easy on yourself and take the pressure off. Best wishes.

[@zzzz546]

It started from the fear of exams , study , idea of being fresh during study pressure. Thats what everyone tells and feeds to you. But real question is everyone hears that but dont get caught in the anxiety associated with it . WHY WE? Is it because we have anxious mind ? What is this anxiety spills over your fears , its nit practical to eliminate fears rather they are part if life. How to normalise anxiety which should not latch in to these fears and make it blowing up to disproportion. Sometimes i feel its just WEAKNESS of mind .

[@johnnyringo7466]

I made a similar comment on another video, but your suggestion to rest helped me big time yesterday. But, I have been going through insomnia for about 3 months. I'm over the fear of it, for the most part, but it's really hard for me to schedule anything knowing I can't sleep when I want. I tried the same thing last night, but now I am up over 30 hours again. Tried many times to lay down, and was even very calm maybe 3/4ths of the time, but I am still trying to figure out what to think about or not think about when I try to go asleep. I tried the same thing I tried yesterday, which was thinking of a relaxing situation, and it didn't work this time. I understand I have been in a loop for a while, so this may not be immediate. My mind keeps describing things, like say I'm trying to visualize myself fishing, or maybe visualize myself with friends, I keep having these conversations in my head with the people around me. Even if I picture myself alone, I keep describing with words in my brain what I'm doing. I even tried a few hours ago simply saying the word "nothing" over and over for about 40 minutes, to calm the thoughts, and I got really relaxed and felt like I was going to turn over, but could not do it. I have even tried simply staying awake in bed, and that gets me very tired too, where I can't keep my eyes open, but I still can't turn over. Again, maybe it's the loop and I'm not giving myself time. But, my question is, what do you do when you sleep? Do you talk to yourself until you fall asleep? Do you keep your mind silent of chatter? This is considering that the longer I stay up, the harder it is to be calm about this stuff and I have had limited sleep the last 3 months. What exactly does one think about or not think about when falling asleep? I have tried everything. In the past, when I smoked weed, I would actually see shapes and images and just follow them and go to sleep that way. Nowadays, I don't see them like I used to and visualizing is harder now. So, now I can get glimpses of talking to friends, or thinking about people I haven't seen for a long time, but I keep wondering if I'm staying awake because my mind is still working? You have been the best I have found so far and I have read and watched a ton on this subject. I think this might be the last thing for me to figure out, is simply what to think about (or not) when I try to sleep or even rest. Do you have any tips or methods on this in terms of controlling (or not) music that pops up, or even positive talk, that just doesn't get me to doze off? (I understand when I'm in a negative state, the cortisol keeps me up, and maybe it still is unconsciously, but it is nowhere near as vicious as it has been where I have to jump out of bed and can't even sit still, in fact, it has almost been mitigated after hearing your TED talk) - So I am simply asking when I am calm and NOT knowingly anxious, and even when I try to rest and can't do it, what you recommend in terms of visualizing, talking or not, or even saying the word "nothing" when thoughts pop up? What precisely do you do when you fall asleep? Do you have conversations in your head or do you do everything you can to limit or cancel all chatter? If the latter, how so?

[@TimBoxMindCoach]

I think the issue might be now that you’re ‘trying’ to sleep. We tend to sleep when we stop trying. It’s not really about deliberately thinking about a specific thing. It’s about letting your thoughts be without the need to question or examine them. Most people will struggle to tell you what they do to get to sleep because sleep occurs when the doing stops. This is definitely a topic to be explored in more depth in a member’s livestream but the final shift will come when you go to bed with the expectation of sleeping perfectly well rather than the anticipation of the struggle. Once we’re there we don’t have to ‘do’ anything. That expectation will come with time. You’re doing so well. The less pressure you put on yourself the faster you’ll get the other side of this particular issue.

[@johnnyringo7466]

@@TimBoxMindCoach - Good stuff and thank you. You covered it quite well in the live stream. If anyone is reading this, take a chance and subscribe to Tim. He really knows his stuff and I have read a mountain of information on this subject. I consider him to be the only one who has hit the things consistently and from a better, more nuanced standpoint. Subscribe to his member's area right here on this channel. Very, very worth it and this man deserves your support in return.

[@alistairlambert3275]

Hi Tim, great video. Lots of us are experiencing sleep issues due yo anxiety. Dr Guy's Meadows book really helped me after 6 months of sleep problems. The advice in your video is spot on. It's tempting to use medication but this is habit forming and loses it's effectiveness. Progressive muscle relaxation also helps and keeping a journal of all the positive things that have happened at the end of each day. Thanks for making these videos, they really help.

[@TimBoxMindCoach]

Alistair, I really like those tips you've listed as they all potentially mitigate the stress response. I also agree with your thoughts regarding medication. Thank you for commenting. :)

[@vsraul]

I do fell asleep rather quickly, but then end up having lots of vivid dreams or nightmares that wake me up many times during the night. Some or most of these times when I wake up I’m having an anxiety attack. Wake up disoriented, high BPM, high blood pressure, nausea…and others. How do you sugget I can work through that?

[@TimBoxMindCoach]

Raul, we often wake in a slight panic because of perfectly normal physiological shifts as we sleep. They can get mistaken by our mind for something dangerous and cause the panic response. Just know you are always safe and none of these responses can harm you. You mentioned high blood pressure. Are you wearing a wrist monitor? If so that might not be helping as you're constantly monitoring these things and as a result will inevitably create more anxiety.

[@vsraul]

@@TimBoxMindCoach Thank you so much for your reply. No, I do not wear a wrist monitor but those days I did took my blood pressure when I woke up feeling horrible. Again, thank you so much, your videos have changed the way I see anxiety and myself.

[@shaneD7378]

I find it is a lot of nights I have this issue my mind goes into overdrive as soon as my head hits the pillow I start think about how I could of done something differently during the day or my mind thinks about pointless things for that time of night but I find just trying to ride it out by using rest where I used to constantly battle with my self but now im too tired to battle with myself

[@TimBoxMindCoach]

Shane, have you taken a look at this one? kzbin.info/www/bejne/fWWQeYt_gdFmh7s It directly addresses a lot of the things you mention.

[@sravanthimalladi2131]

I love your advice on sleep and I've been able to implement it perfectly well for many months until I came across a couple of other videos that I watched which ask you to get up from bed in case you're unable to fall asleep within 15-20 mins, in order to avoid a paired association between your bed and a place of thinking/not falling asleep. Both make sense yet both feel contradictory whilst implementing. Is there anything you can suggest in this contradictory situation?

[@TimBoxMindCoach]

Thanks for this question. Here's a link to my full answer to this:kzbin.infoP1wLbMNVOuU (Skip to 09:15) Tim.