Anxiety sleep disorder
According to the National Institutes of Health, more than 40 million Americans suffer from chronic, long-term sleep disorders. Stress and anxiety may cause sleeping problems or make existing sleep problems worse, thus creating what is referred to as an anxiety sleep disorder.
Anxiety disorders are illnesses that cause people persistent, excessive, and unreasonable anxiety, worry, and fear. Examples for such illnesses include: generalized anxiety disorder (GAD), panic disorder, posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), social anxiety disorder (SAD), and specific phobias.
Sleep disorders are conditions characterized by abnormal sleep patterns that interfere with physical, mental, and emotional functioning. Stress or anxiety can cause serious sleep problems, also referred to as an anxiety sleep disorder, most notably insomnia.
By definition, insomnia is “difficulty initiating or maintaining sleep or both” and it may be due to inadequate quality or quantity of sleep.
Insomnia is generally classified based on the duration of the problem: symptoms lasting less than one week are classified as transient insomnia, symptoms lasting between one to three weeks are termed short-term insomnia, and symptoms lasting for longer than three weeks are classified as chronic insomnia. Most adults have experienced insomnia or sleeplessness at one time or another in their lives. An estimated 30%-50% of the general population are affected by insomnia, and 10% have chronic insomnia.For those living with an anxiety sleep disorder, insomnia is part of a vicious cycle. Many symptoms of anxiety disorders, including excessive stress, persistent worry, obsessive thoughts, and nightmares are severely disrupting sleep. The results of a study published in July 2007 suggest that people with chronic insomnia are at high risk of developing an anxiety disorder.
Sleep problems are often included in the descriptive definition or in the diagnostic criteria for anxiety disorders. Nevertheless, if anxiety may cause sleep disturbances, it is also known that sleep deprivation may produce symptoms which fall within the symptom complex of anxiety. In 2005, researchers Taylor, lichstein and others found that people with insomnia had greater depression and anxiety levels than people not having insomnia. They also found that increased insomnia frequency was related to increased depression and anxiety. The researchers conclude that there is a close relationship of insomnia, depression, and anxiety.
Researchers Bourdet and Goldenberg found in 1993 that Polygraphic recordings of sleep in anxious patients have consistently shown sleep disorders, manifested in an increased sleep latency , a reduced total sleep time, less slow-wave sleep, a greater arousal index and an increased duration of wakefulness during sleep.
Thomas Roth, PhD, director of the Sleep Disorders and Research Center at Henry Ford Hospital states that ninety percent of the time people who have insomnia also have another health condition, Most frequently those include anxiety and mood disorders. He adds that: “treating each condition impacts the course of the other”.
Sleep laboratory and epidemiological studies indicate that insomnia is a frequent finding in patients with psychiatric disorders. In this respect, insomnia is associated with a major depression or an anxiety disorder, mainly generalized anxiety disorder (GAD), and is the most prevalent diagnosis. In their 1989 study, Ford and Kamerow demonstrated that 40% of respondents with insomnia and 46.5% of respondents with hypersomnia (an inability to stay awake) had a psychiatric disorder, compared with 16.4% of individuals with no sleep complaints. Most importantly- anxiety disorders were found to be the most common mental disorders, in both insomnia and hypersomnia. In another research performed at Louisiana State University, researchers found that generalized anxiety and worry in otherwise healthy individuals may act to produce a clinically significant sleep disturbance.
In an important research, done in 2003 by Morin and others, it was found that there is a significant relationship between daytime stress and nighttime sleep. Researchers found that the perceived lack of control over stressful events, rather than the number of stressful events per se, enhances the vulnerability to insomnia. In addition, they found insomniacs perceive their lives as more stressful, relied more on emotion-oriented coping strategies, and reported greater pre-sleep arousal than good sleepers. The researchers conclude that the main implication of their research is that insomnia treatments should incorporate clinical methods designed to teach effective stress appraisal and coping skills.
Other studies demonstrated that Negative appraisals and the cognitive coping styles ‘Worry’ and ‘Punishment’ were found to be associated with both acute and chronic insomnia.
So what is the best way to deal with the anxiety sleep disorder?
First, many techniques for treating anxiety can assist in elevating insomnia, such as meditation, physical exercise, listening to calming music ,and other relaxation techniques.
Most importantly: your condition should not be ignored, and medical advice should be sought as quickly as possible. There are many ways, including medication and psychotherapy that enable a person to effectively treat his anxiety sleep disorder. Lately, cognitive behavioral treatment of insomnia has been gaining much attention and trust, and recommended as a first line of treatment for insomnia patients. This therapy offers several clinically proven behavioral techniques that reduce anxiety and promote healthy sleep.
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