How to Beat Anxiety and Insomnia | Neuroscientist Matthew Walker

Are you tired but wired? Neuroscientist Professor Matthew Walker, the bestselling author of Why We Sleep: The New Science of Sleep and Dreams, offers four scientifically-proven solutions.

[abe]

People who sleep well at night do not even know how lucky they are

[wtDrake]

The worst part of insomnia is when the anxiety itself is caused by fear of sleeplessness. It's a vicious never ending cycle and it feels impossible to break out of.

[LanceVanTine]

Tips from the video:

1. Meditation.
2. Fill out a worry journal an hour before bed - write out everything you are worried about on the page. This keeps you from ruminating throughout the night.
3. If you’re lying in bed awake, don’t stay in bed. The brain associates our activity with our environment. Get up and do some reading in another room until you are tired.

[gilbertalegria]

I pray for everyone who struggles with insomnia it really has affected my life. I recently have been struggling with it and I developed it after i contracted Covid-19. I hope one day it gets better but for all of you out there I will keep you in my prayers. It is a vicious cycle that feels impossible to overcome. Keep your faith people!

[depannenkoekendans]

I have had this anxiety for sleeping for around 4 months now. I personally think the only way to overcome this is to convince yourself that you do not have sleep anxiety. You do this by telling yourself "I dont believe in sleep anxiety, so i can not have sleep anxiety" This requires alot of mental strength, but eventually will help you alot. It gave me 2 weeks of good sleep in the last 3 weeks. I also see it as a challenge, "god gives his hardest battles to his strongest soldiers". I hope i helped someone in some way🙌🏻

[chiragmakwana]

THE IDEA OF HAVING LACK OF SLEEP MAKES ME ANXIOUS AND I DON'T SLEEP BECAUSE OF IT. FML💀😓

[shreedashin]

If you scared of dying don't worry anxiety does nothing to you I know its hard to control it it happens to me alot too but I always prey stay strong you can do this

[eonshade]

My main problem with insomnia is that when I get comfortable with being in bed, I start thinking about how much time of sleep I'll get if I end up falling asleep soon, and as a result I start getting anxious and I count the time in my mind.

I visualise the clock in my head and am really reluctant to check the time on my phone because that would just make everything worse. Seems like the only realiable way for me to fall asleep is to get really tired by doing various things during the day and just jump in the bed without having the energy left to think about anything. Overthinking during the night is a serious curse.

The worst overall thing about this is that it doesn't matter at what time you decide to go to bed, there is no guarantee you'll fall asleep soon, after a few hours, or at all.

[joanajacobvidyarthi]

I have severe anxiety and chronic insomnia and I'm in a situation where medicine isn't working on me and I feel like I am gonna die soon, I m hardly 21 and my life is devasted. But I still hope that GOD will cure me one day 😊

[tonyblue]

Watching YouTube in the middle of the night definitely doesn’t help with insomnia

[chopboxstudios]

I have chronic insomnia and Anxiety, let me tell you, sometimes it feels impossible to sleep. Sometimes I get these moments where I can't sleep for more than 4 hours normally for weeks. I feel like it has to do with subconscious obligations but I'm learning little by little how to turn off my brain at night.

[HL-hrox]

@ 3:07 “try not to worry too much”
Thanks, now my problem of worry is solved😐

[sethrobinson]

Thank you Mathew! I'm going to start practicing meditation, I have really bad anxiety and have been dealing with insomnia as long as I can remember. 4 hours a sleep tossing and turning is considered a good night sleep to me. I dont know why I never thought of meditation thank you thank you!!

[GreenBananaz]

The lack of sleep Is giving me anxiety

[billhitchens]

I went from sleeping 2 hours and waking up anxious at 2am for a few years to sleeping through the night in a couple of days.
I found a type of insomnia called ‘paradoxical insomnia’ and that was the thing that broke my insomnia. Knowing there was a possibility that I actually was getting more sleep than I thought totally undercut my anxiety about sleep. In the middle of the night I’d just think ‘maybe I am actually asleep’ and that relaxed me. Anxiety gone in literally a couple of days. Hope this helps anyone else out there with this issue! God bless.

[AboveTheTok]

i’d be chillin with a friend and they’d be like dude i’m so tired i can’t wait to go to sleep tonight. i’m sitting over here like, “bro you get sleep at night”. 😭 it’s awful but i’ll get over it and i’ve accepted it

[depannenkoekendans]

After 5 months I finally overcame insomnia completely. What made me overcome insomia completely are the next couple of rules for yourself:
1. NEVER look at the clock at night
2. NEVER tell anyone you had a bad sleep, always tell you had the best sleep ever
3. NEVER skip activities because you had a bad sleep
4. NEVER panic when you can't sleep
5. NEVER lay in your bed for more than 8 hours to compensate bad sleep
6. NEVER let bad sleep be the reason you feel bad
7. When you can't sleep, stop constantly looking for a solution for your insomnia (very important)
8. Get a sleep schedule with max 8 hours of sleep and try to go to bed at the same time everynight.
9. When you can't sleep the time goes by very slow. Always estimate your sleeping time with 1 extra hour, because time goes by way slower when you can't sleep
10. Let go of the thought that you need 8 hours of sleep
11. Live your life to the fullest and never let insomnia influence your day

When I applied these rules I got rid of insomnia in about 7 days.
Please let me know if this helped someone, so more people can read this. Succes

[ShreeNation]

I've listened to this guy on many occasions. He seems to answer well _why_ we can't sleep, but can't give proper solutions on _how_ to properly sleep. Every advice is so rudimentary and done before, most of them don't work that's why we're here. Save your time, watch Therapy In a Nutshell's video on sleep anxiety, she actually gives some solutions to this problem.

[konfusionxD]

Lmao if I had to get up every time I can't fall asleep after 15 minutes I'd never be able to sleep

[ChirpoTunes]

Thanks for this, to everyone involved in getting this information out there.
Long way to go from here but at least I know where to start now.
Big hug to anyone out there struggling, you do deserve it, it's not always easy, things will get better.