How to Cure Anxiety (Part 3 of 6): Sleep and Naps

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We’re going to be talking about the importance of getting consistent quality sleep.

When I was at my most anxious, I was chronically in a severe sleep deficit. Every day my routine was to wake up, drink a bunch of coffee, sit on a chair and stare at a screen for hours on end, and then at night I would eat and drink unhealthy stuff right before I went to bed.

When I got in bed, I was checking my cell phone again, multiple times, at least between midnight and two, sometimes even later, and then I would wake up a few hours later and do it all over again.

This was every day, and I didn’t realize how important, like to me, to me, sleep was cutting into time that I could be working.

Every anxious person I’ve met has either been in denial about how little sleep they are getting, or they are completely oblivious to the fact that they don’t have a consistent sleep schedule. They go to bed at random hours in the night, and they wonder why they feel so awful.

My mental health was shot, because I was consistently taking in information all day from my computer and my cell phone, and my mind never had enough time to digest that information, and turn off for awhile. And that’s what sleep allows you to do. Much like play, it allows your brain to turn off, and digest everything, and just recharge.

During the month that I cured my anxiety, I put getting consistent quality sleep at the top of my priority list.

The first thing that I did was I optimized my room for ideal sleeping conditions. I plugged my cell phone charger all the way across the room so I couldn’t be tempted to get up from bed and check it during the night.

Then, I lowered the temperature to around 68 degrees, because sleeping in colder temperatures actually really helps you sleep a lot better.

Then, I downloaded an app called Relax Melodies, which allows you to play a loop of stuff like ocean waves, or crickets throughout the night, and so I would play that just to help myself fall asleep faster.

The last thing that I did was I kept the curtains drawn and I wore a sleep mask, just so my room was as dark as possible and I wasn’t woken up by sunlight.

So once my room was optimized for getting good sleep, I set a reminder to go off on my phone, every night at 10:00 P.M. that said “Get ready for bed!” I took this reminder very seriously. No matter what I was doing at 10:00 P.M., I would stop so I could go and get ready for bed. It didn’t matter if I was right in the middle of a movie, or if I was talking to a friend. I would abruptly quit whatever I was doing, so I could go and get ready for bed. And this just set the ball in motion so I could actually get in bed, because once I committed to the act of going to bed, it made getting in bed much easier.

Once I got ready, I got in bed, and I would lay there for fifteen minutes, and just read a fiction book. I used to read like workaholic and productivity books before I went to bed, but that was the worst thing to do, because it turned my mind back on. It got me thinking again. When I started reading fiction, I went into story mode. It was like being a kid, when you had stories read to you by your parents, so it helped my mind unwind.

After I was finished reading, I would just focus on the pace of my breath until I fell asleep. Whatever you have to do, make sure you start getting ready for bed at the same time every night, so you can go to bed at a reasonable, consistent hour, because that will get your body back into a rhythm of getting adequate rest.

There was another component of my sleep routine that really helped with my anxiety, and that was taking a 20-minute nap every day after lunch, because naps are awesome, and we all took them when we were kids. And I don’t understand why we would stop taking them just because we are adults, because they’re great! We all need them, and other cultures take naps too, so why wouldn’t we take naps?

Take a nap. I guarantee you’ll feel so much better. Do it every afternoon, right after lunch.

Consistent quality sleep… 20-minute naps… You’ll feel so much better.

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Part 1: Mindset