Often in our battle against anxiety, we forget to pay attention to one of the most fundamental aspects of good health – sleep.

What are your sleep habits like? Do you get a full eight hours? Do you go to bed at 1 a.m. and get up at 10?

Have you noticed a correlation between lack of sleep and your anxiety levels? According to a study by UC Berkeley researchers, those who are more prone to anxiety are “acutely vulnerable” to the effects of too little sleep. http://news.berkeley.edu/2013/06/25/anticipate-the-worst/

The study showed that anticipatory anxiety was worse when individuals had gotten insufficient sleep the night before. The regions of our brain associated with processing emotions were found to be over-active in those with too little sleep.

Good tips for healthy sleep habits, and a decrease in anxiety levels:

1. Work with your body’s natural melatonin production. Melatonin, the sleep hormone, starts naturally rising when the sun goes down. It’s best to follow that natural cycle and go to sleep before midnight to allow your brain to rest.
2. Don’t keep your cell phone bright later at night. Same goes for TVs.
3. Exercise during the day, but not too close to going to bed as this can cause your body to wake up and feel energized.
4. Give yourself adequate time to fall asleep. Don’t rush to bed, plan your nightly routine so you have time to unwind before going to sleep at a decent hour.
5. Don’t drink caffeine later in the afternoon/at night. Many people find this disrupts their sleeping.
6. Avoid sugars too close to bedtime.
7. Journal out your thoughts for the day, especially the ways God blessed you that day, however small. This gets your mind working in the right direction as you head off to sleep.

See what you’re missing out of these tips and find ways to work them into your schedule. We all have the same 24 hours in our day, it’s up to us how we manage them. Try going one week with a full 8, early hours of sleep every night and see what difference it makes in your anxiety levels. It certainly can’t hurt.

Blessings,

Jacklyn