Anxiety about sleeping

I feel like this is a ridiculous concern.

I'm naturally an early bird so I schedule a lot of my appointments in the morning since I'm usually up and it forces me to get out of bed at a reasonable time. When I don't need to wake up early, I naturally wake up between 7 or 8. But when I do have to wake up early, I have so much anxiety the night before.

I count backwards from the time I need to wake up to determine how to get 8 hours of sleep. But when I'm waking up at 6:30, 8 hours is not even 11PM. But I get SO anxious about not being able to fall asleep and not feeling tired. Mostly because I know that I'm more vulnerable to my emotions when I'm sleep deprived/I'm always exhausted so less than 8 hours is just going to exacerbate everything.

Previously, I was taking 0.25-0.5mg Klonapin and 10-20mg Sonata at night but my (new) pdoc told me to stop the Sonata since I've been having memory issues/general fogginess. So I'm even more anxious now that I don't have my "security blanket"

Does anyone else experience this? If so, any tips on how to reduce anxiety and just fall asleep?

The good news for you is that there are a lot of people who get nervous about falling sleep. I used to be one too, and I think I've read a dozen or so articles about it.

The number one piece of advise I read? Not to think about it. Easier said than done, right? A couple of "don'ts" include looking at the clock and laying awake worrying about getting the magic 8 hours. If you're laying awake, it's just more stress. No "blue" light either, including computers and cell phones. That type of light messes up your internal perception.

A couple of "do's". Warm milk actually does work because of its chemical properties. Same for bananas. Sounds like you need a distraction from thinking about sleeping too. I close my eyes and "stare" at the patterns light adjustment makes on the inside of my eyelids. YMMV.

If that doesn't work, I take an Ambien

If I have to get up early I usually end up just staying awake. It is kinda the same as being anxious I suppose. It has proven way more reliable than and less anxiety inducing than worrying about how much sleep or over sleeping.