Understanding anxiety insomnia

While most forms of insomnia are treatable through a combination of lifestyle changes and mechanical interventions (like sleep masks), anxiety insomnia is the one type that calls for medication as a first step.

That's because your anxiety and insomnia are closely linked, and can be treated with the same drugs to enable you to get some sleep while you're working on the underlying issues causing your sleep anxiety. In addition, since you may have problems with depression or clinically-significant anxiety that are causing you problems elsewhere in your life, using drugs as the first step in treatment may help you conquer not only your insomnia problems but also your other mental issues.

You can start by self-medicating your anxiety insomnia with over-the-counter remedies. The two best choices are Benadryl and herbal remedies; speak to your pharmacist for advice on which herbal remedy is best and safest for you. Herbal insomnia treatments should be taken regularly, as they build up in your system over time. Benadryl, however, should be taken infrequently for your anxiety insomnia, as overuse will cause your body to build up a tolerance to it.

If these are inadequate to help you get to sleep, you should talk to your doctor about prescription insomnia medications. He or she will suggest many other things you can do to alleviate your insomnia; you should listen closely to this advice, as medications should never be treated as a permanent solution. Depending on your health, age, and what drugs you're already taking, one of a variety of prescription sleep aids should be enough to help you.

If you don't want to take drugs at all, there is one other way to treat your anxiety insomnia that is not often used for other types of sleep problems: insomnia hypnosis. Your doctor will send you to a specialist, usually a therapist, who can attempt to hypnotize you into getting to sleep. Hypnosis works by helping your mind believe something is true, making it a self-fulfilling prophecy. Unfortunately, this does not work for everyone for a variety of reasons. While hypnosis promises relief for some, you may still have to take drugs for your insomnia.

There are also self-hypnosis techniques your therapist may be able to teach you that will give you insomnia help. These include visualization, self-relaxation, and deep breathing exercises. While some of them may seem a little silly, try them all; it is likely that one of them will give you some relief from your sleeping problem.