Insomnia and anxiety treatment

Many insomnia sufferers fail to consider anxiety as a logical source for their insomnia. Insomnia sufferers will often experience a slew of physical ailments including digestive and heart problems, and fibromyalgia. Even psychological ailments can insomnia. A common ailment that serves insomnia is anxiety.

Those who remain excessively worried are known to suffer from both insomnia and chronic levels of anxiety. It is natural for some to experience mild levels of sleeplessness for a couple of nights due to any worrisome matter. However, if any individual is constantly worried and is experiencing prolonged sleeplessness, they are clearly connecting their anxiety with insomnia.

Medical facilities will offer what is called an Anxiety Screen to patients wanting to understand how their anxiety is affecting their bodies. A common effect is insomnia in many Anxiety Screens. Anxiety Screens evaluate various symptoms, including restlessness, fatigue, irritability, difficulty in concentrating, excessive sleep disturbance and muscle tension. If a combination of these symptoms exist, in conjunction with a constant of worrying, for a period of at least six months, than insomnia is attributed to anxiety.

Anxiety disorders are typically fragmented into a multiple of categorized disorders. The umbrella of anxiety related disorders include panic and phobias, obsessive-compulsive disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder. About 20 million people, of all age groups, suffer from some form of anxiety each year in the United States. Most commonly, anxiety related disorders are diagnosed to senior citizens within the age group of 65 or older.

Multiple approaches respond to anxiety and insomnia differently. The spectrum of approaches include herbal formulas, psychological counseling, prescribed medication, nutritional treatment, psychotherapy as well as alternative treatments such as acupuncture.

Therapy and psychological counseling can be effective in helping patients meet day to day challenges without appealing to drugs and medication. The investment of time is required for positive results in any therapy related solution. However those who invest the time in such treatments typically report a natural curbing of insomnia. An added benefit to psychological counseling and therapy is the absence of side effects as those commonly caused by drugs prescribed in response to insomnia or anxiety.

Anxiety-related insomnia patients will often be prescribed Reboxetine, the common brand name, Edronax. In addition to insomnia and anxiety, Reboxetine is reported to relieve depression and social adaptation skills. However, those with a history of convulsions may not be prescribed Reboxetine as it may trigger additional seizures to those susceptible to convulsions.

Nutritionists also reveal that anxiety and insomnia is an effect of low levels of certain mineral intakes, such as calcium and magnesium. Often those suffering from anxiety will incorporate nutritional supplements into their diet containing these minerals that will often curb the anxiety and the insomnia. Take note of the following vitamin and mineral intakes, and if your dietary intakes are low, consider a supplement:

  • Vitamin D
  • Vitamin K
  • Calcium
  • Magnesium

All insomnia sufferers ought to analyze their relationship with anxiety and possibly by addressing anxiety related issues, insomnia will naturally curb itself.

Anxiety is one of the most widely affecting ailments in the United States and beyond, however the good news is that there is treatment available for anxiety and insomnia. Anxiety initiates an onset of innumerable other ailments, such as stress, which in effect, creates mentally and physiological disturbances. Anxiety is connected to the perception of oncoming danger and therefore causes the human body to be defensive and protective as if some real danger is coming. In reality, there is no danger that justifies the body being in ‘flight or fight’ mode of reaction.

A defensive or protective reaction triggered by the body by any perceived danger is the definition of anxiety. There is a positive side to this reaction, as it is what helps us survive. It transports our body to a state that is needed in emergency situations. However that state is not appropriate to be in all the time.

In excess, anxiety can be a damaging element in the body because it causes all the functions of the body to be in a heightened state of readiness on a constant basis. The body was not designed to be on constant alert such as this, and there is wear and tear that comes with that extreme effort. This state causes an individual to experience difficulty with normal everyday experiences, such as eating and sleeping, without an extreme effort. Additional symptoms of anxiety include acute headaches and migraines, depression and insomnia, acute muscle tension, irritability and restlessness.

Insomnia and anxiety treatments are efficient and quite simple. Doctors typically prescribe treatments specific to their patients, which considering a number of factors, such as an individual’s personality and the actual triggers of the anxiety bout. Since treatments are so user-specific, a treatment for one patient for anxiety and insomnia may be completely ineffective to another patient with similar ailments.

Insomnia and anxiety treatments typically include medication for immediate relief from anxiety symptoms, as well as one or more of the following:
CBT (cognitive behavioral therapy) – amalgamation of a number of therapies specifically targeting anxiety related issues
Psychotherapy – address feelings of the person
Relaxation techniques – prompts the individual to quash anxiety offers assistance in bringing the body’s functions back to normality

Insomnia and anxiety treatments almost always go together since they nearly almost cause one another. There are very few cases where an insomnia patient is not suffering from an anxiety related ailment, or when an anxiety patient is not suffering from insomnia. There are many instances where the absence of sleep is connected to an anxiety attack or sometimes depression. As it stands, insomnia and anxiety treatments would be ineffective if they were not tackled together, which makes the importance of accurate diagnosis prior to treatment that much more important.

Last updated on Feb 18th, 2009 and filed under Sleep Disorders. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

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