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More Tips for Nighttime Anxiety

From Cathleen Henning Fenton, for About.com

About.com Health's Disease and Condition content is reviewed by Steven Gans, MD

  • "The mind can only think one thought at a time, so maybe try reading inspirational stuff and concentrate while you are doing it. Writing about it in a journal helps me to get the crazies out of my head and down on paper. Prayers also help. Sometimes I will keep repeating the Lord's prayer over and over and over till I fall back asleep. Making this a daily habit has helped me get to a point where now I can sleep at night most of the time." -- Bit4Byte91

  • "I imagine a great place I know and who I'd like to meet there. This could be real or imagined but it gives a good positive start to sleep processes - just don't think about sleep; think about the place, the smell, colours, etc., and your chat with the person you meet. Also I lay off ALL coffee, tea, etc., but drink warm milk. I know it sounds funny, but nice sheets and a good bed make sleep more enjoyable." -- AussieMat1

  • "The trick is to relax through it the next time it happens, instead of fighting it. I read somewhere that fighting anxiety or negative thoughts is like being in quicksand. The more you struggle, the deeper you sink into it. At night, try taking deep breaths if you start feeling anxious. My therapist told me to practice muscle relaxation exercises several times a day, even for a couple of minutes each time, as well as to slow down my breathing, and he said that after a while it would become a habit." -- Sunset461

  • "Hot soup and headphones. The hot soup will make your digestive track work and that makes you tired because it uses up energy, and the headphones are great because you can pick songs up and down the dial until you feel comfortable enough to go to sleep. By that time, you can barely turn off the radio because you're so sleepy and then you just fade because you're finally relaxed." -- Julesie1

  • "Take a warm bath before bed and keep trying your breathing techniques. Sometimes I get up, read a nice book, watch a little TV, even pace the floor. Don't eat anything within 3 hours of going to bed. Cut out all caffeine, refined sugars, and bleached flour. Exercise helps. Make your sleeping quarters quiet, cool and as relaxing as you can. Try and cut your stress down during the day (I know it's hard!) Best of all, give yourself at least 30 minutes of clearing your head, before you try and sleep." -- TerryJo2

  • "I think the key is to focus on a particular thing to think about until you go to sleep. Try a soft music CD. Also try something like picturing the living room in your house, and then piece by piece, picture the room with the furniture moved to a different wall. Another good 'mind game' is to picture a blank map of the United States and start out West and fill in the states. If you still are not asleep, try to name the capitals of each state." -- Dorothy

  • "What I do is run a three speed fan on low all night to drown out the sounds of the night. The fan is close to my bed and not blowing on me. I've been doing this for years after trying other gimmicks and this has worked the best." -- Scoota

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