Anxiety is about loops. It can involve incessant intrusive thought loops or positive and negative feedback loops. One of the most common trends I see is the negative feedback loop between lack of sleep and anxiety. Clients that are vulnerable to anxiety suffer more from sleep deprivation. In turn, that lack of sleep makes them more anxious.
How do we break out of the loop? Keep reading to learn more about the connection between sleep and anxiety.
Science of Sleep
Getting good sleep is a crucial component to our well being. For more technical information take a look at this NCBI article about the sleep-deprived human brain.
Sleep deprivation can result in pretty severe consequences for your brain. Lack of proper rest affects your attention, working memory, ability to regulate emotions, and ability to learn.
It’s not necessarily the lack of sleep itself that causes all the issues. There are so many factors. To name a few: extended wakefulness, metabolism issues, social withdrawal, and more.
We still don’t know much about how the big picture affects us in the long term.
We know altered functioning of your brain centers correlates meaningfully with neurological and psychiatric disorders.
Put more simply, and this is truly astounding: sleep disruption is comorbid with all major psychiatric and neurological conditions. Anxiety disorders and sleep issues have a long history. If we want to fully treat and understand these conditions, we need to be looking at why we sleep and why it is so important to sleep.
There are serious possible effects of chronic poor sleep:
Susceptibility to diabetes
Susceptibility to hypertension
Risk of depression
Risk of stroke
If you are an adult and you are getting less than 7 hours of restorative sleep a night, you’re sleep-deprived.
Sleep Deprivation and Anxiety
Sleep deprivation triggers changes in several brain regions and activities. Most notably, people experience changes in their cognitive and emotional brain activity.
Additionally, sleep deprivation affects everyone differently. In some people, it reduces their working memory, while other people may have more problems with their emotions. Researchers do not know why this is.
What we do know is that your body prioritizes homeostasis. This means whatever your lack of sleep is disrupting, your brain is making up for in other ways to keep you functioning.
If we work with this idea, it’s not too much of a stretch to say your brain can make you anxious when you’re sleep-deprived. Look at it this way. Anxiety is a state of heightened arousal, and with it, you may experience symptoms like increased alertness and shallow breathing. In a sleep-deprived state, you may be more prone to anxiety as your brain compensates however it can to keep you alert and out of danger.
Your brain is keeping you extra awake via anxiety to compensate for the loss of function due to sleep deprivation.
Which to Prioritize
If someone has comorbid chronic sleep deprivation and anxiety, which do we treat first? Especially if the two are in a negative feedback loop, how can we just isolate and treat one?
I think it depends on each person’s individual circumstances.
For example, a college student might be losing sleep because they have too much on their plate. In their case, lack of sleep may not be due to their anxiety. They may just not have enough time to sleep.
In another case, someone may be up all night because they have incessant, intrusive thoughts due to anxiety. In this case, we need to treat their anxiety so they can get proper sleep at night. These clients may wish to consider mindfulness practices.
The right treatment is also different for everyone. Some do better without medication, while others flourish once they’re medicated. Some need therapy, others don’t!
In general, we need to prioritize sleep however we can. Sleep deprivation is a global public health crisis.
Sleep Hygiene Check-Up
Let’s do a sleep hygiene checkup. When you can’t get to sleep, are there any patterns behind that?
Here are some scenarios to jog your memory on this:
Sleeping badly whenever you get into an argument with your partner
Using your phone for hours while in bed
Worrying about work or other recurring stressful situations
Caring for young children
Everyone’s nighttime routine looks different and will be the key to unlocking why people aren’t getting to bed. For example, if you are not getting enough sleep because of relationship anxiety, that’s the area you’ll want to focus on first.
What does your nighttime routine say about your causes of anxiety?
Do you think it’s anxiety causing your lack of sleep, or the reverse?
Your issues are probably complex. Sometimes, getting to bed is the hardest thing in the world. I get that. If you find your problem is more complex than can be treated by just improving your sleep hygiene, here’s what we can do.
Suggested Treatment
If you are able to, rule out any health complications. Ask your doctor to get blood tests done, thyroid issues ruled out, and the like. If you have the resources, you can even get a comprehensive test used to diagnose any sleep disorders like sleep apnea. From there, you can determine whether you need special equipment or medication for better sleep.
Many underlying health disorders have possible depression and anxiety as symptoms, so we want to rule those out while managing the symptoms. Next, you’ll want to reflect on your nighttime routine. What patterns have you observed?
What’s the biggest obstacle?
This will help you find the right treatment for your specific issues when it comes to disrupted sleep and anxiety. You may have to keep a sleep journal to keep track of the patterns, which I highly recommend. Record your mood, thoughts, and even what you ate for dinner right before bed. In the morning, record how well you slept.
Are there any patterns? The patterns should point you in the right direction for managing anxiety and getting better sleep.
More on Sleep and Anxiety
It’s really hard. Laying sleepless in bed when everyone is dozing around you is a terrible feeling. That sleep and anxiety negative feedback loop is really, really hard to deal with. If you are experiencing chronic sleep disturbances and chronic anxiety, my recommendation is always to see a professional. It can be your doctor or a licensed therapist.
You can get through this!
If you are looking for more support with anxiety schedule a consultation.
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