How can I stop this disturbed sleep?

I have GAD [general anxiety disorder]. I downloaded one of your sleep downloads, but none of them seem to fit. I have learnt to go to sleep through breathing - it took a while, but I can now go to sleep with around three deep breaths.

Trouble is, I have an anxious sleep. I wake up anxious, my muscles are all clenched, I have nightmares, and I never feel like I have actually had deep sleep. I have learned to stop rumination while awake, but clearly my brain is still doing it at night. Even when I am managing the GAD during the day, the nights are bad. I always wake up anxious and in pain.

Do you have anything that would suit this kind of disturbed sleep?

This question was submitted by 'Sonia'

Mark says...

Hello Sonia and thank you for writing in.

It sounds like you have learned some really powerful self-help strategies.

Sleep tends to be a reflection of daytime psychology. So, relaxing as much as you can during the day and learning to manage and diminish worries should help you. Healthy sleep in adults consists of around 75% deep, slow wave (recuperative) sleep interspersed with about 25% REM [rapid eye movement] or 'dream sleep'. Many of those dreams are not recalled.

It may be worth checking out your blood sugar levels to see how stable they are.

You can also listen to 'Sleep Like a Child' to help encourage deeper, more restful sleep.

All my very best,

Mark