Thing called 'nervous anticipation'

[Ayumi 0]

I was going through some of the topics and came across this term used by the user Mark G. For people who don't have physiological problems like sleep apnea or thyroid problems, or stress at work, this seems to be the most likely cause of long term insomnia. The thought that 'it's time to sleep', the sight of the bed, the word 'sleep', the word 'insomnia', if they all make you anxious, most probably you've developed nervous anticipation. It only makes it harder to fall asleep and worsens your insomnia. So try to know and understand that it's just your head messing with you, and don't worry about it. If you used to sleep well earlier, obviously you can sleep just as well now too if you just let go of your fear and anxiety. 🙂

[tikobird 0]

I began having a couple of nights when I couldn't sleep about four years ago. Ever since then I get severe anxiety and sometimes panic a few hours before bedtime keeping me from sleeping. I'm at my wit's end and always exhausted. Everything I do revolves around how much sleep I've had. I've always had a generalized anxiety disorder and maybe because it's been untreated so long it's much worse. I don't get it other than before bed. I can't find out how to break the connection. I'm trying to find a therapist who knows more about anxiety disorders. If I could break the connection between thinking of insomnia and actually not sleeping I'd be able to live a good life. Right now I hate my life.

[astudentwithanxiety 0]

Hey, I think I may be prone to this as well. I am a student and I tend to be insomniac around my exams. As it so happens, I have an exam in two days that I have essentially been studying a whole week for and I was fine with sleeping all week but now, so close to the exam, I have a "need" to sleep. This real need to sleep in order to make my brain function properly makes me nervous about going to bed and trying to sleep. I think this is because it has now become such a necessity for me to sleep, in order to do well on my exam, that the pressure is way to high leading my anxiety to skyrocket and me lying in bed with a big fat rock sitting in my chest! Terrible terrible feeling.. Have no idea how to make it better and yes, I have looked into several options such as medidation, alpha waves, white noise and even CBD. It seems like nothing can break it down and I just can't keep going like this, it's really bad for my academic success.