Night time anxiety. It’s one of the worst kinds. It quietly lurks in the background collecting information all day, waiting until the dark of night and then without notice, demands centre stage.
Does this sound familiar?
Well, you’re not alone.
Here’s how it looks for me:
Everything is quiet in the house. The girls are finally asleep. I get nice and cozy on the couch. Within no time I’m falling asleep looking at my phone or reading that book that I’ve been longing to read. And then reluctantly I decide to make the journey to bed. I get all comfy in bed then, BAM, I’m wide awake!
It’s at this point my brain decides, “Aahhh, peace and quiet. Just what I’ve been waiting for. Alright, time to analyze our day. Do you want to start with how much time you were on your phone when you should have been paying attention to your baby or should we just jump right into the list of things you didn’t get done around the house? Once we’re done with that, let’s start making our impossible to-do list for tomorrow! This is going to be so fun!”
This can go on for minutes or hours, usually depending on how tired I am…the more tired I am the longer it seems to go on. And then I’ll finally drift off to sleep only to be woken by my baby who needs nursing. I tend to her and then climb back into bed. Aaahhh, nice and warm and cozy.
And then, knock, knock! Guess who?! Yup, anxiety. But this time my brain turns up the sound of my anxious voice and it feels nearly impossible to get back to sleep.
Is this sounding familiar?
Well, did you know that there are actually reasons that our anxiety gets worse at night! (Meaning it’s not your fault that our brain goes down that anxious path.)
Here are the top 3 reasons your anxiety gets worse at night:
- There is less stimulation to distract your brain so all the focus is on your anxious thoughts. The quietness of the night allows for your anxiety to grow;
- You’re tired and defenseless. Your anxiety knows this and takes advantage of your ‘weakened’ (restful) state;
- You are likely dealing with some level of sleep deprivation. This sends your stress hormones through the roof impairing your ability to think clearly and regulate your emotions.
This makes sense, right? There’s minimal stimulation, you’re in a restful state, and you’re likely dealing with sleep deprivation; mix them all together and it makes the perfect breeding ground for nighttime anxiety.
Now that we know what is causing our night time anxiety to get worse, we need to figure out what to do about it. How do we stop it and get that quality sleep when we can?
I’m talking all about this over on my newsletter this month. So come join me! If you haven’t subscribed yet, here’s a link – Mamahood Newsletter. I’ll be giving you some suggestions and tips to help quiet that anxious voice in the dark of the night.
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