by Brianna Cheney, M.A.
When I become stressed, I take extra caution to follow my self-care routine, which includes getting adequate sleep. However, I recently noticed that the more stress that I was experiencing, the more difficult it was to fall asleep and stay asleep! As I was trying to fall asleep, I would have a passing thought about something stressful (Ugh, I have to do xyz tomorrow!), become anxious after thinking about it, and then increasingly more anxious when I realized that my rumination was keeping me awake!
Over the past couple of weeks, I have been using REBT to identify and replace the irrational thoughts interfering with my sleep. When I notice myself experiencing anxiety when trying to fall asleep, I use this as an internal cue to take a few deep breaths and to examine my thoughts. I’ve found that I tend to make myself anxious by thinking two types of irrational thoughts:
1.) I’m so stressed that it’s affecting my sleep! I can’t stand being this stressed!
2.) I must get a good night of sleep tonight! I have a big day tomorrow and without sleep I’m not going to be able to handle it!
Both of these thoughts increase my anxiety, thereby making it more difficult for me to fall asleep! Furthermore, neither of these thoughts are accurate! Let’s look at Thought #1. It might be unpleasant that I’m stressed, but I can live through it! Becoming stressed about my stress only makes it worse. Thought #2 is equally unhelpful. Telling myself that I must sleep only makes it more difficult to fall asleep! I may prefer to sleep well, but even if I don’t, I’ll be able to live with feeling tired the next day.
Naturally, I continue to have stressful thoughts as I fall asleep, but practicing rational self-talk (Even if I don’t sleep well tonight, I’ll make it through the day tomorrow!) has helped me to feel less stressed about being stressed and less anxious about getting less sleep!
