I'm having trouble falling asleep, is this anxiety?

Hello.

It sounds like you are working on dealing with your problems, and I’m glad your sleep has improved.

It is difficult so answer you properly via this webpage, because we don’t know you and don’t have the opportunity to talk to you properly.

In general, however, it is a little typical that anxious thoughts pop up when we go to bed and get ready to fall asleep.

This is both because things can seem bigger and more scary when the day grows dark and we’re more alone. The second thing is that it’s a time of day that’s uninterrupted by anything else.

Through the day we can distract ourselves, or there’s so much going on anyway that we don’t have time to think and worry. When all you can do is lie down to fall asleep, however, the brain can think whatever it wants.

It can easily develop into a problem, because if it keeps happening unchecked the brain kind of gets used to thinking about things and worrying during bedtime. It becomes a habit in a way.

So what you can do is work on breaking the habit of thinking about things and worrying as you go to bed.

For example, set aside some time before you get ready for bed. It’s smart so choose a time that’s a bit earlier in the evening, so it doesn’t become something you think about as you’re trying to fall asleep.

For example, set aside 20 minutes to an hour around 6 pm to write down things you’re thinking about lately, what you’re worried about, maybe what you’re worried about worrying about, whatever comes to mind.

This can also be a way for you to confront what is stressful or difficult in your life, to make sure you’re not just pushing it aside.

When you’re done with the time you set aside for this, or you’ve written down whatever you can, tell yourself that you have now worried and thought enough about this. You don’t have to think about these things anymore for the rest of the day.

In fact, whenever your thoughts seem to be about worry, you can tell yourself that you don’t have to think about it yet or still. You can think those thought during your “worry time”.

Another thing you can work on is remembering that thoughts are just thoughts. You don’t actually have to spend time on them if you don’t want to.

I’m not saying it is easy to work on these things, because we humans have a tendency to get bogged down in our thoughts as soon as they arrive, but it’s possible to work on.

When a stressful thought arrives or you notice yourself worry about something, remind yourself that these are thoughts you’re having.

Thoughts have nothing to do with truth, necessarily, they’re just something our brain creates and you can choose to spend time on them or not, to believe them or not.

It’s also important to know that thoughts are affected by our emotions. So if you are stressed, scared, sad etc; your thoughts are likely to be stressful, scary and sad as well.

So you can remind yourself that maybe you are worried because you feel stressed or alone, that that’s why these thoughts arrive - not because it’s more likely that you actually are sick or something is wrong.

Lastly, try to break the habit of thinking about these things as you fall asleep by getting up and out of bed if you notice yourself getting caught in uncomfortable thoughts.

Sit up, get out of bed, sit somewhere else and remind yourself that these are just thoughts, you can choose how much time you spend on them, and they’re not necessarily true or likely.

If you want you can also write down what you’re thinking about, and tell yourself to think more about it tomorrow. Then you can look at it in light of day (where things often seem a lot less scary) and also get the thought “out of your head”.

I hope these things can help you to sleep more easily. Remember that it is also very typical that sleep can become troublesome if you expect it to be hard or difficult.

I wish you all the best!

Vennlig hilsen psykolog

ung.no