Is your anxiety worse at night?

You’re trying to fall asleep, but you’re ruminating. If you’re stressed out during the day, you’re now exhausted and sleep deprived by nighttime, which only further impacts your anxiety. Even when you aren’t actively experiencing a stressful situation, the triggers you experience throughout the day are taxing to your adrenal system, and can make it difficult to fall asleep. This turns into a vicious cycle. It’s important to give yourself time to wind down at night in ways that soothes your anxiety. Here’s how you can treat your nighttime anxiety:

Regular day time exercise

Think of your anxiety as little bundles of energy systems that get stuck in your body. When you remain stagnant, the energy systems have nowhere to go, so they stay inside you, pumping cortisol into the body. When you exercise during the day, you release endorphins and decrease cortisol levels. Moving and releasing that anxious energy during the day can help you have better quality sleep.

Read a book to soothe nighttime anxiety

When you aren’t fully ready to go to sleep yet, it’s tempting to scroll on your phone before bed. What you’re doing is overwhelming your brain with a variety of information that it doesn’t need. Why we scroll before bed makes sense–we aren’t ready to fall asleep yet, and we want to be stimulated so it will tire us out and we will go to sleep.  When you scroll on your phone, you have no control over what will pop up. Your intention may be to ingest uplifting media, but you also can’t control what other people post. Remove that uncertainty by picking up a book instead. Without that blue light, your brain will get the hint that it’s time to go to bed, and you will give your cortisol levels a chance to drop before you sleep for the night. 

Prepare for your day the night before

A lot of us experience anxiety at night because we are worried about the uncertainties of tomorrow. Prepare yourself as much as you can for the next day so that you can relax and enjoy your evening. Pick out the clothes you will wear the next day, prepare your lunch, think about what you might want for breakfast, etc. All of the things that you can’t control or prepare for,  make it your intention to shelf it until you can actually deal with it. 

Settle into a nighttime routine

Routines and rituals help you have less anxiety. You know what to expect when you have a routine. Uncertainty causes us more anxiety. Certainty can’t always be achieved, but you make it easier on yourself when you develop a routine that eliminates the need to worry so much. For example, when you have a solid meal time routine, you eliminate the anxiety of what you will eat and when you will eat. You take away the stress of decision-making. When you’ve had a long, stressful day, the best way to ensure that you will have a calm, relaxing evening is to create a routine that makes you feel calm and relaxed. This can be something like getting off your phone, doing breathwork, taking a bath, stretching, drinking a cup of tea, reading a book, journaling–whatever it is that makes you feel peaceful and present. 

Give yourself something to look forward to

Instead of ruminating on the things that could go wrong tomorrow, think of everything that could go right. And if something were to go “wrong”, how can you let it empower you rather than make you a victim? 

It’s also important to plan a treat for when you are done doing all of the things that make you anxious. Balance is key. You can’t work all the time, you must incorporate rest and play, otherwise, you will live a bleak life. What lights you up? What would you do if you were on vacation? 

For more tools to use to calm your anxiety, read this article.

 If you feel stuck on your healing journey, working with a therapist can help. Based on your needs, our intake specialist will help you get matched up with your perfect therapist. Click here to schedule a consultation.

Starting with a creative written voice and a BA in English from ASU, Alli Cravener has become so much more than Integrative Counsel’s voice! Not only is she a writer who is passionate about connecting concepts and content, Alli is also currently a grad student working towards her Master’s in Counseling. She is also the editor-in-chief, office manager, AND intake specialist at Integrative Counsel. When you call us, you’ll talk to Alli! Alli’s interests include painting, history, learning about other people, and wearing the color pink. She likens herself to a “mouse in a palm tree”, and she loves it that way.