Insomnia Support
Panic attacks love to strike hard at night; just as you’re trying to drift off to sleep or even jolting you out of a sound slumber. A surge of adrenaline hits, your heart pounds, head aches, worry sets in and 
your hopes for a restful night end. Insomnia is brought on by stress and anxiety more often than any other cause, but there are things that you can do while you’re awake, throughout the day, that can lead to a far more restful night.
Everyday, life gives us plenty of reasons to pile up on a stress overload. Most of us are dealing with high levels of stress in our lives maybe brought on by personal and business finances, maybe health issues or concerns about family and friends or maybe huge life changes such as the birth of a child, new job or job loss, a death in the family, etc. So, why is it that some people can go through these common albeit difficult times sleeping more soundly than others? The answer often lies in how we choose to manage our stress while we’re awake.
One of the worst things you can do is to ignore or deny your stress levels, because that’s when stress creeps up and hits you hardest at night when you try to sleep. It isn’t that the stress isn’t getting to you because you’ve been effectively ignoring it; it means that you’re letting it pile up and allowing the pressure to build, and eventually all of that collected adrenaline will release all at once, often causing a panic attack.
Practicing effective stress management throughout the day will allow you to confront and consciously handle your stress levels allowing you to effectively rest at night.
Here are some ways to do just that:
Exercise daily
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- Do some physical activity every day, allowing you to burn up stored adrenaline and to focus your energy on something other than your problems for the moment. Giving yourself an active mental break will not only help you relax but also promotes creative problem solving.
Write it down
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- Write down what you’re worried about, and list the things that you can control about it, and the things that are out of your control, respectively. For the things that you can control, develop a plan of action—specific tasks for you to help address the problems head-on. For the things out of your control, place those on your prayer or meditation list. Surround this with positive thoughts, hopes, and empower yourself with the knowledge that while you cannot control it, you are giving the best energy to the situation, promoting a positive outcome.
Meditate or pray
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- Try not to focus on the problem(s) immediately, but allow yourself time to concentrate on your breath, quiet and stillness, the feel and sounds of your surroundings. Once you are sufficiently at peace and mindful only of your breath and your particular space and time, you can then turn to your worries that you cannot control and offer them up in peace and love. This is an opportunity to remove negative energies from stresses that are out of our control and allow yourself peace in knowing that you have actively done something to address the problem even though you cannot control it.
Take action
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- Among the things that you do have some control over, begin to take some action to address the problem. Even the smallest step forward can do wonders to help relieve the stress caused by the problem.
Gratitude journal
Beyond listing your stressors and deciding what parts you have some control over and which parts you don’t, journal about what you are grateful for. Begin each day and end each evening by writing in a gratitude journal. This surge of positivity starting and ending each day will help you frame your days and nights in a positive light. Don’t avoid mentioning your worries in your gratitude journal—if you’ve taken action to address something difficult, mention how grateful you are that you took that step, even if it’s a small one. Acknowledging the efforts you have made throughout your day to address your problems in writing before you go to bed at night will reduce the power your problems have over you, particularly as you go to sleep.
Taking proactive approaches to stress management throughout your day can lead to far more restful nights.