[ladle]

So I have been having my first long bout of insomnia the last 3 or so months, I have social anxiety and my psychiatrist says this is what dictates my anxiety.

I have actually made real amazing progress in the last week after I was at a severe low point, after spending two nights with my heart racing and sweating sleeping for a mere few hours i went to the GP with the intention of asking for some valiums before being made to wait for 45 minutes and having a brain snap deciding hey thrash this i dont need these pills, my heart rate felt better instantly and I felt great that day (to an extent).

I then slept 7.5 hours that night and have been getting similar nights sleep since, until last night when i worked in the evening in a shop front feeling moderate social anixety (constantly scanning etc).

The thing is I use to be able to be like this and still sleep like a baby, but now I come home and my brain stays in this hyper aware or hyperarousal state and refuses to shut off, I didn't even feel anxious going to sleep or have a racing heart (due to the progress I've made around not caring or getting frustrated when i dont sleep) my brain was simply ON and not turning off, I eventually got to sleep at around 2-2:30 and slept well until 7.

My question is how do you switch off from this hyperarousal state, (I've tried breathing/relaxation exercises etc) but none seem to work my brain just tends to need to extremely slowly unwind from this state before it lets me sleep.

I also find myself in a state where if i play a stressful stimulating computer game like call of duty for an hour or two, i enter this hyperarousal sate, or if i go for a surf my heart rate stays on 220 the whole dam time and it remains elevated and affects my sleep that night. I've had to quit my job at a botttleo becuase of this and am just working with family now.

Any help appreciated.

[Skeezyks]

Hello ladle: I don't know what the answer to your problem would be. I'm an older person & retired. So there's not a lot of stress in my life at this point. There still is some though. I think I lived with high levels of stress for so many years that my body no longer knows how to be otherwise. I do think that, if one lives with anxiety & stress long enough, over time, the "stress response" simply becomes a way of life, whether there's really anything to be stressed about or not.

You wrote you have tried breathing / relaxation exercises. I've done these sorts of things in the past as well. They tended to make me more anxious... not less. What I prefer is walking meditation. I walk slowly around-&-around our home front-to-back, slowly & quietly. I focus light-&-gentle attention on my feet as each one touches the floor. Thoughts come & thoughts go. I simply allow them to arise & fade at their own pace. I will sometimes walk for as much as an hour or two at a time. I also like to listen to quiet soothing music... a lot of it is various types of chant (Buddhist, Sikh, Hindu & other) but also the type of music that is typically referred to as "new age". There's lots of these sorts of things on YouTube. And I'm often listening to them when I'm replying to posts here on PC. I avoid engaging in things I know, before I start, would be arousing. From my perspective, it's a matter of coming to an understanding of what one can-&-can't tolerate & managing one's surroundings to encourage as much calmness as possible.

[Jason1123]

The challenging thing about sleep is the more you chase it, the more it eludes you. Our beliefs have a terribly power effect on our bodies. If we worry about something, it can put our bodies into a hyper-arousal. I've experienced this myself and it's caused me to lose entire night's worth of sleep.

What finally helped me was learning to worry less about how I felt. I used to worry if I felt a certain way, like excited or stressed or ruminating, I wouldn't be able to sleep. But what I learned is that I could actually sleep in all of those states, as long as I believed I could. It was like building my confidence so I could learn that sleep doesn't have to come in this perfect state of mind.

I also found the book, "This Book Will Make You Sleep," Actually the title really helpful. If you're not a big reader there's an audiobook version. The advice is very sound. Good luck and update us on how it goes.

[alpacalicious]

Sometimes this happen to me. Not everyday, but I experienced this hyperarousal state and my heart beated very fast one night, I woke up at 5 am and wasn't able to sleep because I had many anxious thoughts on my mind.
I found out that when I drink chamomile I sleep very quickly and don't wake up during the night. Also I found a youtube channel about guided mediations (the name is michael sealy), and the voice of the person is so calm, and I feel more relaxed after a while. It's easier to meditate this way because there's a person that tells you what to do, and so I focus on the voice, and not on my anxious thoughts.
Also it will be better to not use devices like computer and phone 1 hour before going to sleep. Instead of staying at the computer you could read a book, or do something relaxing (I'm thinking about...colouring books maybe or something like this...or taking a bath). I'm really bad at following this advice Usually I stay up late with my computer, sometimes playing a game online but my heart beats so fast this way. Maybe I should buy colouring books.