How to help with anxiety at night

11 Sleep Anxiety Tips: How To Calm Anxiety at Night

*This article is for general information purposes only and is not intended as medical or other professional advice. Visit the links within the text for sources. Casper has not independently verified the sources.

While some of us may toss and turn some nights, every night can be a restless night for others. If you’ve ever struggled with sleep anxiety, you know the feeling of anxiously watching the clock as you worry about not being able to fall asleep and waking up sleep-deprived the next day.

There are many statistics that reveal Americans’ struggle to sleep on a regular basis. As it turns out, anxiety and sleep are connected in a number of ways. Fifty percent of those who are sleep-deprived say that their anxiety impacts their ability to sleep at night.

It’s important to understand how anxiety can affect your ability to get a good night’s rest. This guide covers what sleep anxiety is, the effects of anxiety-induced sleep deprivation, and science-backed tips for decreasing anxious thoughts, as well as how to set yourself up for better sleep.

What Is Sleep Anxiety?

Sleep anxiety is a type of performance anxiety that involves a cycle of anxious thoughts before going to bed, many of which involve unease, nervousness, and worry. While there are dozens of tasks to occupy your cognitive functions during the day, your brain can often struggle to keep itself busy at night, thus resorting to any anxious emotions and thoughts.

Anxiety can lead to an endless cycle of stress and poor sleep. If you often experience nighttime anxiety, it may be hard to tell whether you’re having trouble sleeping because you’re anxious or you’re feeling anxious because you can’t sleep.

According to research, sleep and anxiety go hand-in-hand. Having anxiety can cause sleeping problems and make it difficult to sleep, but sleep deprivation can also trigger anxiety. If you’re unable to sleep, you may dread going to bed and waking up feeling even more sleep deprived.

UC Berkeley researchers suggest that the lack of sleep can ramp up regions in the brain that trigger excessive worry, which provokes further anxiety and makes sleep even more elusive

What Are the Symptoms of Nighttime Anxiety?

Symptoms of nighttime anxiety take on many forms, as it is experienced differently by everyone. Dr. Pierrette Mimi Poinsett, pediatrician and medical consultant for Mom Loves Best, says, “Before bedtime is no different than anxiety during the day. The difference is that you may be more aware of anxiety at night as fewer other stimuli are co-occurring.”

While sleep anxiety is individual to each person, some of the most common symptoms include:

Trouble falling and staying asleep
Trouble concentrating
Feelings of restlessness and nervousness
Gastrointestinal problems
Nightmares and night terrors
Hypnic jerk (twitching)

Another symptom of sleep anxiety is panic attacks. This involves an episode of extreme fear that’s characterized by a sense of doom, increased heart rate, sweating, dizziness, shortness of breath, and a feeling of detachment that could occur before or during sleep. After experiencing a nighttime panic attack, there can be anxiety about getting another attack, making it harder to fall asleep.

What Happens When Anxiety Interrupts Sleep?

When anxiety causes inadequate sleep, it can go beyond the tiredness of a regular all-nighter. Poinsett says that anxiety can be a trigger for sleep deprivation, creating a vicious cycle that can further affect your sleep pattern.

While the impact of sleep anxiety is largely individual, some common effects of sleep anxiety include:

Negatively impacts your mood
Leads to poor performance at work or school
Disrupts learning and attention
Increases chance of depression
Reduces cognitive reaction times

A small study even found that those who have insomnia are four times more likely to develop depression.

In addition to mental health issues, those with sleep disorders can be at risk for other health problems, including heart disease, high blood pressure, stroke, diabetes, and obesity.

How Can I Overcome Anxiety at Bedtime?

If anxiety or disrupted sleep occurs often in your day-to-day life, these simple strategies can help you relax your body and mind and ease yourself into sleep. Changing your pre-sleep habits takes time and patience, but adapting to these changes may help you fall asleep with less sleep anxiety over time.

1. Practice Good Sleep Hygiene

Dr. Nikki Lacherza-Drew, licensed psychologist and owner of Vici Psychological Care, suggests engaging in proper sleep hygiene to help get better sleep. Lacherza-Drew says, “If you have a routine and engage in appropriate sleep hygiene on a consistent basis, your mind will be less likely to go down the rabbit hole of anxious thoughts.”

Sleep hygiene refers to various habits that are necessary for good sleep quality. To practice good sleep hygiene, Lacherza-Drew suggests:

Limiting screen time before bed
No major physical activity or heavy meals close to bedtime

No caffeine or alcohol near bedtime or after a certain time in the afternoon

Other easy ways to practice good sleep hygiene include:

Soaking up the morning sun
Limiting power naps to 20 minutes
Keeping your bedroom dark and cool
Following a consistent bedtime routine

2.

Practice Meditation

According to Dr. Clara Lawson, medical doctor at USA Hemp, practicing meditation can help calm anxiety before bedtime. Additionally, research has shown that diaphragmatic breathing relaxation techniques can lead to significant reductions in anxiety before bedtime.

Start with as little as a few minutes of sitting quietly and focusing on your breathing. Learning to silence your mind and meditate can help navigate stress during the day and before bedtime. If you have trouble meditating, try these relaxing yoga poses to help your body prepare for sleep.

3. Exercise

Lawson also suggests using exercise to calm pre-bedtime anxiety because it reduces the production of stress hormones. Regular exercise has been shown to help people fall asleep faster and more soundly. Even a moderate-intensity workout like a brisk walk can improve sleep for those with chronic insomnia.

While getting exercise can be a great way to practice good sleep hygiene, Dr. Howard LeWine, editor in chief of Harvard Men’s Health Watch, says, “You should avoid vigorous activity for at least one hour before bedtime.” If you’ve been struggling to fall asleep, you may want to skip the late-night sweat sesh and opt for a morning or afternoon workout instead.

4. Set Aside Time for Winding Down

If you’ve been struggling with sleep anxiety, Dr. Fran Walfish, family and relationship psychotherapist, suggests “creating a routine that winds you down and gets you in the mood for sleep.” This can include things like dimming the lights, listening to calming music, or taking a warm bath.

Walfish also suggests opting for activities like light reading in place of a TV or computer, as using a screen can “ tend to rev up anxiety and excitatory thresholds versus relax and calm you down.”

The best nighttime routine allows your mind and body time to slow down before you turn off the lights. Allot at least 30 minutes to take a bath, read a book, listen to a podcast, or play quiet music. These “transition rituals” can condition your brain to associate certain actions with preparing for sleep.

5. Avoid Stressful Activities Before Bed

Amber Weiss, licensed psychotherapist and founder of Transformative Mindset, says, “Creating some form of a transition from daytime to sleeping is highly recommended.” According to Weiss, you can’t expect the mind to go to sleep on demand. Instead, you need to allow time for the brain to transition, just like we transition to go outside or when we get home.

The goal is to reduce the nervous thoughts in your head so your mind is clear, calm, and positive before you head off to sleep. This can entail leaving the office, work, news, and social media exchanges for earlier in the day to create buffer time between work and sleep, setting yourself up for better rest.

6. Write Down Your Worries on Paper

According to Juanita Wells, director of clinical development at New Method Wellness, putting your thoughts down on paper can “help us remain accountable to ourselves, our feelings, our purpose, and plan. ”

Instead of letting thoughts and to-dos swirl around in your brain, write them down so that your brain has a game plan for the following day. Wells says that writing down your anxious feelings, especially through stream-of-consciousness journaling (writing whatever comes to mind), can help ease anxiety before bed.

In addition to calming pre-bedtime anxiety, research shows that journaling can also help you fall asleep more quickly. To get started journaling, just snuggle up with your notebook and some cozy pillows and let your thoughts take it away.

7. Avoid Lying in Bed Awake

If you’re lying in bed for more than 20 minutes and still can’t fall asleep, it might be time to give yourself a do-over. While it may feel counterintuitive, Lawson suggests leaving your bedroom to do a sleep-inducing activity, like having a cup of tea or reading a book. This conditioning, known as stimulus control, can reduce the time it takes to fall asleep.

If you’re going to try stimulus control, it’s important to remove yourself from your bedroom environment. This helps give you a mental reset when you try to fall asleep again.

8. Limit Screen Time

Did you know that our laptops, phones, and tablets emit blue light that tricks the brain into thinking the sun is up and suppresses melatonin? To combat this, try avoiding screens for one to two hours before bedtime to minimize sleep interruptions.

If you’re unable to part ways with your phone before going to bed, you should consider using a blue light filter to minimize the amount of stimulating blue light you see before trying to hit the hay.

9. Set Your Environment

Controlling light, sound, and temperature in your bedroom can increase your chances of calming your mind and falling asleep easily. A sleep-friendly environment should be quiet, dark, and cool — between 60 to 67 degrees Fahrenheit, to be exact.

If light is keeping you up, using a dimmable glow light can be a great way to get yourself in the mood for sleep. Additionally, while white noise may be your go-to background sound to fall asleep, research has shown that pink noise can also help make it easier to focus on your sleep.

10. Get a Bed That Fits You

When you sleep on an uncomfortable mattress, pressure points build up on your body, causing you to toss and turn. A supportive mattress and pillow provide support to the contours of your body and neck, and keep you cool and comfortable for sleep.

For drool-worthy sleep at a price point that won’t break the bank, you may want to check out the Casper Original Mattress. Engineered for cool, comfortable sleep, the Casper Original provides targeted layers of support and unique cooling perforations so you can spend less time counting sheep and more time catching Z’s.

If you’re looking for that sleeping-on-a-cloud experience, the Casper Nova Hybrid may be the right option for you. As our most top rated mattress, the Casper Nova provides sturdy support with a velvety soft top layer so you can sleep worry-free.

11. Use a Weighted Blanket

Weighted blankets are a type of heavy blanket that typically weighs between 5 and 30 pounds. They’re known for producing calming effects by mimicking the feeling of a hug using deep pressure stimulation. Because weighted blankets can help increase serotonin and melatonin while decreasing cortisol, they have been shown to promote feelings of calmness and peacefulness.

What Causes Anxiety Before Sleep?

According to clinical psychologist Emily Knott, “Anxiety before bedtime often takes the form of a phenomenon referred to in psychology as pre-sleep arousal.”

Knott says that pre-sleep arousal may cause the body and nervous system to enter a state of heightened awareness that may take the form of “problem-solving, thinking about your own thoughts, focusing on stimuli in the environment such as noise and light, and ruminating about the consequences of not being able to sleep.”

While there hasn’t been extensive research conducted on sleep and anxiety, there are a few reasons why your anxiety may be worse at night. Here are possible causes.

Reason #1: Too Much Focus on the Day

Nighttime anxiety can be caused by over-focusing on stress before sleep. Knott says that this is because “our body can perceive work stress, relationship issues, and social contact as dangerous, and prepare us to fight or flee.” Being fixated on your worries during the day and anticipating stressful activities for the next day will make it more difficult for your mind to relax.

Reason #2: Fear

Some people feel scared, worried, and sad at night. The stress can cause your body to experience an adrenaline rush, which exacerbates your anxiety and prevents you from relaxing before bed.

Reason #3: Rapid Thought Patterns

Those who have anxiety tend to experience quick-moving thoughts that are difficult to calm. The longer those thoughts go on, the more anxious people feel. Poinsett says that these rapid thought patterns can turn into a vicious cycle that affects your sleep pattern throughout the week.

Reason #4: Poor Sleep Cycle

According to Lawson, insomnia and anxiety share a strong relationship, meaning sleep problems or insomnia can cause anxiety and vice versa.

If you’ve always been anxious or struggled to fall asleep, you may have developed a pattern of poor or interrupted sleep. This makes your body most susceptible to stress and insomnia.

Types of Anxiety Disorders

Research also shows that sleep disorders occur in almost all psychiatric and anxiety disorders. Some of these include:

Generalized anxiety disorder: Worry over everyday events, making it difficult to relax.
Social anxiety disorder: The anticipation of social situations can often prevent sleep at night.
Compulsive-obsessive disorder: Research suggests that intrusive thoughts and fears can keep people up when they’re trying to fall asleep.
Post-traumatic stress disorder: The constant re-experiencing of traumatic events can induce nightmares and rob people of sleep.

Sleep vs. Anxiety

While experiencing anxiety is a normal occurrence, it becomes a concern when it interferes with your ability to sleep. Anxiety at bedtime may be the result of an anxiety disorder or just from overall unrest. What we know so far is that sleeping problems can lead to anxiety, and anxiety can create more sleeping problems, creating a vicious loop.

If anxiety is affecting your sleep, it’s possible that lifestyle changes and better sleep hygiene can help. If you are unable to overcome anxiety with these adjustments, it’s best to speak to a health professional. No matter the method, it’s important to alleviate the anxiety to get the sleep you deserve.

Infographic

Anxiety at Night: Causes, Symptoms, and Treatments

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Medically reviewed by Bethany Juby, PsyD — By Eleesha Lockett, MS — Updated on Jan 11, 2023

Anxiety is a typical human emotion characterized by feelings of nervousness and worry. Nighttime is one of the most common times for anxiety. Depending on the cause, treatment may be medication, lifestyle, or therapy based.

Anxiety occurs when stress lingers for a long time, sometimes without an obvious cause.

You may be anxious due to stressful situations, such as a first date or a job interview. But when this sense of worry doesn’t go away and even keeps you up at night, you may have an anxiety disorder.

Read on to learn the possible causes of nighttime anxiety and how to relieve it.

Anxiety can interfere with your daily — and nightly — life.

Research shows sleep deprivation can trigger anxiety. Research also shows that the risk of poor sleep is higher in people living with mental health conditions like anxiety.

For this reason, treating your nighttime anxiety and addressing your sleep issues are both important steps in improving your quality of life.

There are many symptoms of anxiety. Everyone experiences anxiety differently. Symptoms can happen any time of the day, in the morning, or at night. Common symptoms of anxiety include:

feelings of nervousness, restlessness, or worry
trouble concentrating
trouble falling asleep or staying asleep
gastrointestinal problems

Another symptom a person with anxiety may also experience is a panic attack. A panic attack is an episode of extreme and intense fear, often accompanied by physical symptoms. The common symptoms of a panic attack include:

a sense of impending doom
increased heart rate and chest pains
shortness of breath and throat tightness
sweating, chills, and hot flashes
dizziness or lightheadedness
a feeling of detachment, or like nothing is real

Symptoms at night

Sometimes, you may even wake up from a nocturnal panic attack. Nocturnal (nighttime) panic attacks have the same signs and symptoms as regular panic attacks, but they occur while you’re asleep.

Research shows that about 20% to 45% of people living with panic disorder experience frequent nighttime panic attacks. If you experience a nocturnal panic attack, it may be hard to calm down and fall back asleep.

For some people, nighttime anxiety can lead to insomnia. Insomnia is defined as persistent trouble falling or staying asleep. Chronic insomnia can have negative health effects, including an increased risk of:

health conditions, such as high blood pressure and a weakened immune system
mental health conditions, such as depression
accidents

There are many reasons why you might have an anxiety disorder. Often, people may have a genetic susceptibility to anxiety, and this can interact with stressful life situations or experiences.

Other factors contributing to developing anxiety include prescription medications or herbal supplements, substance use disorder, or a history of trauma.

Anxiety can also be triggered by medical conditions. They include:

heart disease
hyperthyroidism
diabetes
chronic pain
irritable bowel syndrome
certain brain tumors

Anxiety and sleep

Sleep issues and anxiety seem to accompany one another. Lack of sleep can be an anxiety trigger, while anxiety can also lead to a lack of sleep.

You may feel your mind racing and may not be able to stop your thoughts. You may be focused on the worries of the day or anticipating things on your to-do list for the next day. This perceived “stress” can cause the body to experience an adrenaline rush, which makes it incredibly difficult to get to sleep.

Population surveys show that 24% to 36% of people who have difficulties sleeping at night have an anxiety disorder. In one self-reported survey, researchers also found that people living with panic disorder are three times more likely to have issues with sleep than people who don’t live with the condition.

In a small 2016 study, researchers examined the relationship between cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) and sleep quality in people with anxiety. Researchers found that both sleep quality and sleep latency (the time it takes to fall asleep) improved in participants who responded to CBT.

The researchers believe that targeting sleep problems during anxiety treatment might be beneficial for those who have trouble sleeping.

It’s important to remember that it can take time to find the right treatment approach for your anxiety. Because of this, you and a doctor may choose to use various treatment options.

They include:

treating any underlying conditions
trying psychotherapy such as CBT
taking antianxiety medications such as benzodiazepines or antidepressants
trying herbal supplements such as saffron, kava, ginseng, or lavender, which may help reduce anxiety, according to research

Remember that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) doesn’t regulate the quality or purity of supplements as they do for drugs. Talk with a doctor before trying supplements to ensure no interactions will occur.

Here are some lifestyle tips that may help you relax and ease your anxiety at night:

Meditation

Meditation is the practice of mindfulness. Research suggests that even one session of meditation can be beneficial in reducing your anxiety. Even more benefits may be seen over the long term.

Meditating right before you tuck in for the night can be a great way to turn down nighttime anxiety.

Deep breathing

Deep breathing is a great way to reduce anxiety and stress. Breathing deeply can slow your heart rate and improve your blood pressure.

If you’re experiencing a panic attack at night, try deep breathing to ease the attack.

Grounding

Anxiety can cause episodes of dissociation. Grounding is one way to keep yourself present in the moment.

Grounding techniques include cognitive and sensory awareness, such as touching an object or saying today’s date out loud. Doing this at night before bed can help bring you back to the present moment so you can sleep.

To-do list

If one of your anxiety triggers involves worrying about your daily activities, you may notice your anxiety spikes more at night. Creating a to-do list for the day or week may help relieve some of that anxiety.

Healthy sleep habits

One of the most important ways to ease anxiety at night is through healthy sleep habits. Making sure you’re happy and comfortable in your own bedroom will help improve your sleep quality.

There are many ways to establish good sleep habits to ensure you’re sleeping better and for longer:

Exercise daily

Exercise can help improve both sleep quality and duration. If you experience nighttime anxiety, morning exercise may help you sleep longer at night, while afternoon workouts also have sleep benefits.

Research also shows that exercise can actually directly influence your anxiety levels for the better.

Strenuous exercise also raises your body temperature and heart rate, so working out before bed can disrupt the process of falling asleep. However, regular exercise is better for sleep than not exercising at all, and finding a routine that works for you is the most important thing.

Develop a sleep schedule

Establishing a sleep schedule can help keep your circadian clock in check. When you keep your wake and sleep cycles around the same time each day, you may find it easier to fall asleep at night.

Avoid stimulants before bed

Stimulants like caffeine can worsen anxiety symptoms. In addition, because stimulants increase body activity, taking them before bed can make it more difficult to fall asleep.

Though it isn’t a stimulant, alcohol can also disrupt sleep, so be sure to avoid it before you hit the hay.

Turn off electronics

When you finally crawl into bed, you may want to consider avoiding electronics. A 2017 study found that in almost 350 adult participants, the use of electronics after bedtime was related exclusively to the amount of time it took to fall asleep.

This is because artificial blue light from electronics is thought to suppress the sleep hormone melatonin, making it harder to fall (and stay) asleep.

Create comfort

Pillows and mattresses should be comfortable and supportive for your body and sleeping style. Your bedroom is your own, so making it a comfortable, safe space to sleep can make all the difference for your nighttime anxiety.

Constant anxiety that makes it difficult to sleep at night can affect your daily quality of life. Your work or school performance may worsen, making it hard to complete your typical daily tasks.

If anxiety and lack of sleep are affecting your life in this way, it’s important to reach out to a doctor or mental health specialist for help.

Whether the doctor diagnoses anxiety, insomnia, or both, reaching out is the first step in the treatment process.

There are many reasons why your anxiety may be worse at night. Daily stressors, poor sleep habits, and other health conditions can lead to increased anxiety and panic attacks at night.

However, there are many treatments available that can help ease your anxiety and improve your quality of sleep. If you’re concerned that your nighttime anxiety and lack of sleep are affecting your life, it’s never too late to take advantage of the mental health resources available to you.

These online resources can help you find a mental health professional near you:

American Psychiatric Association’s Find a Psychiatrist
American Psychological Association’s Psychologist Locator
Anxiety and Depression Association of America’s Find a Therapist

Last medically reviewed on January 10, 2023

How we reviewed this article:

Healthline has strict sourcing guidelines and relies on peer-reviewed studies, academic research institutions, and medical associations. We avoid using tertiary references. You can learn more about how we ensure our content is accurate and current by reading our editorial policy.

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Medically reviewed by Bethany Juby, PsyD — By Eleesha Lockett, MS — Updated on Jan 11, 2023

How to Overcome Sleep Anxiety

If you deal with anxiety or sleep disturbances on a regular basis, there are a few simple strategies that can help calm your mind, relax your body, and make it easier for you to sleep. Changing bedtime habits takes time and patience, but over time they can help reduce anxiety.

1. Practice good sleep hygiene
Sleep hygiene refers to various habits that are essential for good quality sleep. Best practices include reducing daytime sleep to 30 minutes, limiting stimulants like coffee and alcohol closer to the night, and going to bed and waking up at the same time.

2. Practice meditation
Begin by sitting quietly for a few minutes and focusing on your breath. Learning to quiet your mind and meditate can help you deal with stress, both during the day and before bed. If meditation is difficult for you, try relaxing yoga poses to help your body prepare for sleep.

3. Exercise
Regular exercise has been found to help people fall asleep faster and sounder. Even moderate-intensity exercise, such as brisk walking, can improve sleep for those with chronic insomnia.

4. Take time to relax
Proper sleep preparation will allow your mind and body to slow down before you go to bed. Take at least 30 minutes to take a bath, read a book, listen to a podcast, or listen to soothing music. These transitional rituals can set your brain to associate certain activities with getting ready for bed.

5. Avoid stress before bed
Leave office, work, news and social networking for daytime. Experts suggest creating a transition time between work and sleep, which will help you tune in to a good rest.

6. Write down your worries on paper
Instead of letting thoughts and to-do lists go round and round in your head, write them down so your brain has a plan for the next day. Research shows that it may help you fall asleep faster.

7. Stay out of bed if you can't sleep
If you've been in bed for more than 20 minutes and still can't sleep, reset. Get up, get out of the bedroom and engage in a sleep-inducing activity like having a cup of tea or reading a book. This action on conditioned reflexes, known as stimulus control, can help shorten the time it takes to fall asleep.

8. Limit Gadget Use
Our laptops, phones and tablets emit blue light that suppresses melatonin, making the brain think the sun has risen. Try not to use gadgets one or two hours before you plan to go to bed so as not to disrupt your circadian rhythm.

9. Maintain favorable sleep conditions
Controlling light, sound, and temperature can increase your chances of calming your mind and falling asleep easily. The bedroom should be dark, quiet and cool. Pink noise can also help you focus on your sleep.

10. Get a mattress that suits you
When you sleep on an uncomfortable mattress, pressure builds up and pain points build up on your body, causing you to toss and turn. The right mattress and pillow will help support your body and neck, and keep you cool and comfortable while you sleep. You can order a Kitami mattress with a test drive for 101 nights and not be afraid that you will make the wrong choice. If the mattress does not suit you, Kitami will take it for recycling and refund 100% of the cost. You can choose a mattress here.

What to do if you wake up in the middle of the night and can't sleep

November 9, 2015 Adviсe

It's three nights on the clock, and there is no sleep in one eye. You suffer from rolling over from side to side, and remember some kind of insult or problem, and the alarm clock is about to ring at 6:30. What to do?

Iya Zorina

Author of Lifehacker, athlete, CCM

So, it's the middle of the night, you know you should sleep, but you can't. Something is keeping you awake. Maybe your employee doesn't want to give you a lift to the bus stop anymore, or your friend said something rude. Whatever it is, you can't get it out of your head, and at the same time, you need to get enough sleep because you have to work tomorrow.

Probably everyone has experienced these terrible sensations. To me, this is a real pain. Moreover, the reason why you can’t sleep can be completely frivolous: an unpleasant comment or statement that you are not doing your job.

Add to that stress and anxiety, and your brain goes wild at the worst possible time - in the middle of the night.

Get up, throw out your anxiety

You can't get rid of severe stress just like that, having agreed with yourself in your thoughts. The more you think about the problem, the deeper you sink into stress and anxiety. You just go around in circles, getting more and more worried. What a dream!

Plus, you're nervous about not being able to fall asleep and getting up soon. It turns out that not only do you not sleep, but you worry all night, so that in the morning you feel completely overwhelmed.

You won't be able to just calm down and sleep, so stop torturing yourself and get out of bed. Do something to help you relax and vent your anxiety.

It is really important to do this. The longer you stay in bed in this state, the greater the risk of going without sleep all night. Eventually your brain will stop perceiving the bed as a place to rest.

Let your bed cool and air out. You must want to go back there, to the blissful comfort of cool sheets. Take a walk, make a calming herbal tea, or drink a glass of water. Do something refreshing to take the stress out of the day's events. Of course, this is not a panacea, but it will certainly help break the circle of nervousness and anxiety, and this is the first step towards defeating insomnia.

Do something meditative but distracting.

The next thing to do is get away from the clock and worry about late time. Find yourself some meditative activity (not necessarily meditation per se). If meditation calms and relaxes you - meditate, if not - now is not the best time to learn this.

If you have some housework to do, do it. Cleaning (of course, if it does not wake up your relatives or neighbors), putting things in order in a closet, a table, reading in a dim light - these activities are great.

You can turn on a podcast or audiobook and let a pleasant voice or favorite track take you to sleep.

Your activity should be interesting and thoughtful, but not too exciting. Your goal is to occupy your mind, focus on something else, not think about things that cause you stress. You don’t need to completely put the question that worries you out of your head, you just need to relax so that you calm down and fall asleep.

Do not spend time in front of the monitor

Try to avoid using your computer, smartphone or tablet during this time. This is a general advice for improving the quality of sleep, but it is also relevant for our situation. Blue light from your device reduces melatonin production and your brain thinks it's time to wake up and stay awake.

In addition, checking emails and checking social networks is too exciting for someone who wants to sleep. So put your smartphone away and don't rush to turn on your computer.

If reading calms you, choose e-ink readers. Unlike a tablet, they're readable, and their screen isn't too bright or high-contrast, so your brain won't be fooled by the time of day.

If you turn on your laptop or tablet, turn down the brightness or install apps like f.lux or Twilight. They change the color temperature of the screen depending on the time of day.

Of course, this is not the best choice, but let's be realistic: the first thing that many of us will do when we realize that we won't be able to fall asleep is to reach for our smartphone to read Twitter, check messages on the VKontakte page, or watch a couple of funny videos on YouTube.

In principle, if it helps to calm down, why not. Just stop in time when you have already calmed down and try to sleep, and do not sit on social networks and YouTube all night.

Use sleeping pills with caution

If you really don't have much time to sleep, you can try over-the-counter sleeping pills, but take (and choose) your medications with care. Many of them have side effects, and what works great for other people may not work for you at all.

Therefore, before taking sleeping pills, make sure that there really is no other way out. This is especially true of sudden nocturnal awakenings, when you wake up at three in the morning and cannot fall asleep, and at eight in the morning you have to be at work. If you take sleeping pills in the middle of the night, the effects may last long after you wake up, so you'll be like a sleepy fly until noon.

It usually takes about eight hours for sleeping pills to completely wear off. Therefore, look at the circumstances and read the instructions for the medicine to choose the right dosage.

You can try melatonin, which can help improve the quality of your night's sleep for some. At the very least, you won't feel drowsy, as is the case with other drugs like diphenhydramine-based sleeping pills or doxylamine.

Whatever you do, don't start working

If you pick up your smartphone or open your laptop, the temptation to start working is great. Don't give in!

Don't try to be productive or focus on what is causing you stress. Don't reply to an annoying email, don't ask a friend on social media what he meant when he said that rudeness. Don't exacerbate. Trying to solve the problem can only increase your stress levels, which of course won't help you sleep. Especially in this state: tired, nervous and angry, you are unlikely to decide something.

Moreover, if you want to settle some interpersonal relationships at night, you most likely will not succeed. It is better to clarify misunderstandings in communication at a meeting, or at least write messages when it is convenient for a person to answer them, and not when he sees the tenth dream.

A sleepless night is terrible, but you can hardly solve the problem that prevents you from sleeping at three in the morning. So it's better to be distracted by something, and solve problems during the day.

If you can't resist, don't send what you wrote. Save email or SMS as drafts, write whatever you want to say in note app. In the morning, re-read and decide whether to send or not. No wonder they say that the morning is wiser than the evening: in the morning your grievances may seem like sheer nonsense, and you just delete this draft.

Take a day off

If you feel like nothing helps, take time off from work at least before lunch. Send a message to your boss saying you're unwell and want to take half the day off. Set an alarm for the morning to call before the start of the working day and warn you that you will be in after lunch.

The thought that you don't have to get up early tomorrow will take some of the stress out of having to sleep and not being able to.

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