The I Can’t SleepExplosion
Catherine looks haggard at seven o’clock as she sets a half grape-
fruit in front of her husband.
“Another bad night?” he asks.
She nods sadly as she pours herself another cup of coffee.
“I was up until almost five just looking at the clock.” She yawns.
“It’s been just as bad all week. I can’t even remember when I last
had a decent night’s sleep. I just don’t know how I’m going to
get by at work.”Anxious people have trouble sleeping, but not nearly so much trouble
as they think. The problem is as much worrying about not getting enough
sleep as it is not sleeping itself. Studies of sleep disorders show that anxious
people actually get far more sleep than they say they do. There is evidence of
real sleep deprivation in depression, but we’ll discuss that in the next section.
Despite the research, never try to convince anxious people that they’re
not really awake all night, even if you’ve heard them snoring. They won’t
believe you, and they’ll think you’re insensitive for saying so. However, it is
useful for you to know that the problem may not be as serious as they think.
If there’s an anxious person in your life, you’ll probably be called
upon to give advice about sleeping. Here are some guidelines that are sup-
ported by research. Anxious people seldom follow any of them:
YOU CAN’T FORCE YOURSELF TO SLEEP. Sleep comes unbidden when
its rhythm overtakes the brain. You let it happen; you can’t make it happen.
The more you worry about sleeping, the more you keep yourself awake. Like
all the automatic functions in the body, sleep has a slow, steady cadence.
Worry has no rhythm at all, it is an endless series of fits and starts, twists and
turns that cancel out the slow, natural rhythms of life. You can’t pursue sleep,
you have to slow down enough for it to catch up with you.
GO TO BED AT THE SAME TIME EVERY NIGHT. The sleep cycle is part of
the circadian rhythm, which is regulated by lower brain centers that are
extremely repetitious and ritualistic. Court them with your own repetitious
rituals.
136 ❧Explosions into Fear