Are you tired of reading articles that claim you should sleep if you are anxious? Telling an anxious person to sleep is like telling a burn victim to swim in the ocean. Yet, sleep is probably the most reliable aid for relieving anxiousness. But before you sleep, you need to relax. There are several ways to prompt relaxation, but there are three primary routes, which are exertion, medication, and psychological.
Medication
Drugs impair your ability to think, so it makes sense that they may help you relax. In most cases, your mind focuses on a single problem until you cannot find adequate mental rest. If you have an anxiety or depressive disorder, then the problem will keep causing an emotional response that comes and goes like waves in the ocean tide. If such a problem is recurring, then seek out Seattle’s best dispensaries and find something to take your mind off this for a little while. However, be aware that herbal relaxants often make you feel physically tired while your mind is still very active.
Exertion
You can run yourself out. Once your body reaches a state of physical exhaustion, you have no choice but to sleep, and it becomes challenging to stay anxious. Try to aim for something like a runner’s high. This usually occurs after you hit your second wall, you hit your third wall and suddenly feel euphoric. Engage in physical activity until you are too tired to stay anxious and so tired that you need to sleep. Also, do not take a bath after your exercise because it gives you quiet time in which your anxiety could flare up once again. Instead, take a quick shower, dry off quickly, and then fall asleep fully dry in bed, or on a sofa, if it is more comfortable.
Psychological
There are many methods by which you may change your thinking, including considering your anxiety as a ball of problems and then pushing it into the distance. Another technique is to decide when you are going to be anxious. You can tell yourself that your bed is a safe zone. This is an area where worries and anxiety may not enter.
Whenever you get into bed, all your thoughts revolve around whatever imaginary scenarios you can concoct in your head, and you forbid yourself from thinking about whatever problems are bothering you. It takes practice at first, and you may still have trouble sleeping, but you can spend many happy hours imagining whatever scenario fits the movie you just watched. It won’t help you sleep, but it lessens your anxiety.
You may also wish to try “active imagination” where you place yourself in a hypothetical situation, and then discuss your problem with the people present. For example, did you ever see those meetings they used to have during Star Trek Voyager episodes where they all gathered to discuss the problem? You could imagine the same, and you weigh up what you think the characters would say about the worry on your mind. After a while, the characters almost take on a life of their own and may often help you see new angles to a problem. Star Trek Voyager and Next Generation are suitable for active imagination because the cast has such a ready mix of strong opinions that you get a good mixture of ideas in your sessions.
The problem with anxiety is that it is easy to exacerbate it because you can become anxious about being anxious. However, it is a problem that can be overcome. The first step is in recognizing the problem and then dealing with it in as calm a manner as you can.
