Hi. It’s Jenny at AnxietyBoss.com. Our question today is from Donny in Orlando, Florida. I have anxiety from staying up too late at night. No matter what, I freak out and always try to go to bed at a certain hour. How can I get rid of this feeling and thought? Sometimes during weekends, I just want to relax, go out with friends, or watch a movie and don’t want to freak out about being late to bed.
Let’s consider the diagnostic possibilities:
- OCD
It could be that you are having intrusive, obsessive thoughts about not getting enough rest at night. These obsessive thoughts may fill your head for a long time, and it sounds like the thoughts are interfering with your social life. Because of your obsessions, you may be exhibiting compensatory compulsive behaviors, which serve to decrease the anxiety associated with the obsessions. For example, because of the anxiety induced by the obsessions that you are not getting enough rest, you may have compulsive behaviors at bedtime, like going to bed at certain times, or dropping everything just so you can be prepared for bedtime, even though it may be hours away from the appointed time of sleep. So it could be part of an obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD).
- GAD
Maybe you have excessive worries about everyday events or situations, like worrying about getting enough rest. So this may be the reason you are freaking out when you stay up late past your bedtime. You may spend too much time and preparation getting to bed. And when you do finally get to bed, you are so keyed-up and restless that you are not able to sleep! Can you imagine what this does to your anxiety? Yes, it worsens your anxiety, and you continue to worry about getting enough rest, and now you are sleep deprived. And sleep deprivation makes your anxiety even worse. This could be the presentation of generalized anxiety disorder (GAD).
- Adjustment problems with stressors
Maybe you are experiencing stressors that are beyond your ability to cope with them. Maybe you have guilt about staying up too late. Are you staying up and procrastinating? What are you stressed about? What are you avoiding? Is there an upcoming thesis due at school? Do you have a year-end presentation to your colleagues at work? Are you having relationship problems? So this could be just a problem with dealing with stressors, which is temporarily overwhelming you and your ability to cope with them.
So your worry about not getting enough rest and staying up too late at night may be secondary to having an anxiety disorder such as OCD or GAD, or secondary to having adjustment problems coping with stressors. More information would be needed in order to figure out exactly what is going on. So addressing your anxiety and thoughts are dependent on what type of anxiety you have. Please click here for more information on anxiety symptoms and diagnostic considerations for the major anxiety disorders.
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I disagree. I have this. I believe it’s from staying up too late too often. It has little to nothing to do with thought about not sleeping enough and everything to do with the body freaking out with adrenaline. The trick is to get to bed on time as much as possible…if at all possible. But miss one night after you have this and you’re back to square one. The body becomes sensitive to adrenaline perhaps?
Thank you for your share. But I respectfully disagree with you. Worrying and ruminating about getting enough sleep is part of the vicious cycle of sleep anxiety. The adrenaline response is the result of the fear circuits (based on the amygdala) going on overdrive, triggered and maintained by the worry loops that interact with the fear circuits in the brain.
I have this right now and I want it gone. This happened ever since I had a nasty bout of insomnia with anxiety attacks last May. Ever since I have been afraid to sleep late. Once the clock strikes 7… I start feeling anxious and go about doing my before bedtime routine so I can be relaxed before sleeping and I am able to sleep with a few night time awakenings. This is all well and good on work days but its seriously messing up my social life. I have to be at home at a certain time and I freak out when I am still in the city past my intended time and fearing the onset of panic attacks. Ive tried once to completely ignore it and was able to stay awake until 9:30pm, was out wity a friend and then I made the mistake of looki g st my watch and the anxiety practically rushed up my throat and my heart started racing and I ended up a crying, depressed mess when I got home. I just want to be back to normal again.
Sounds like you are experiencing anticipatory anxiety, where you are waiting for the next anxiety (panic) attack. You may be experiencing anticipatory anxiety and panic attacks as part of a panic disorder. This article may help you, if you do have panic attacks and anticipatory anxiety from panic disorder. Please visit with your doctor.
I had an anxiety attack from staying up all night once; now I’m too afraid to even look at the clock past 11:30…. Help?
You are probably experiencing anticipatory anxiety, which is fear and worry about the next anxiety/panic attack occurring. Please click here for more information and help on this: https://anxietyboss.com/why-panic-attacks-come-out-of-nowhere-in-panic-disorder/
I am a freshman at college and I want to be able to stay up late on weekends and hang out with friends, but once it hits 8:30, i start planning out my bed time routine, I make myself think I have to be in the room by 9:30 so I can go through my routine and have the lights off by 10:30. I am sometimes able to push myself to stay out later, but I am very anxious past 9:30 if I am not in my room. What should I do to not be anxious when staying up late?
Why do you feel the need to have such a strict bedtime routine? Is it just how you were brought up at home with a strict bedtime routine from external structure (ie from your parents), or is it from worrying or ruminating about getting enough sleep? Or do you really require a lot of sleep just to function? The answer to these questions will help to inform the solutions.
I have this, but my anxiety attacks are never triggered by conscious anxious thoughts. They are inevitably a physical phenomenon –usually begun by a PVC or racing pulse and then exacerbated by a fight or flight reaction once I think I am having a life-threatening event (usually a heart attack, in my imagination).
It is my belief that while my panic attacks may be intensified by stress and my creative mind, they actually originate from an over-active vagus nerve. (I also have a strong vasal-vagal reaction at the eye doctor. Yay for fainting in front of astonished optometrists!) My vagus nerve just seems to be extra sensitive. I find my attacks increase significantly if I have any sort of gastric distress happening, including if I’ve drunk too much the night before (I rarely drink). But (graphically, sorry) if my stool is soft, my odds of an attack are far higher. And visiting the bathroom can help to alleviate symptoms (I understand there a vagal reset from pushing, and also voiding seems to help.)
If I stay up past 11pm I inevitably also have intense episodes. My working theory right now is that is the time when my dinner has made its way into my intestines and triggers the vagus nerve. It might also be weariness, as I do need a lot of sleep and rarely get it.
I do also once in a long while wake in the night with an attack, and often wake in the morning with a racing pulse and overall shaky feeling. That might be love blood sugar or digestive, but may be more related to a mild sleep apnea than digestion. I’m currently toying with altering my diet for a few weeks and dropping off certain foods to see if it’s localized or just a general digestion thing. My family has a history of Crone’s and other gut afflictions.
Anyhow, I get a bit frustrated when people conflate anxiety attacks and panic attacks, as it seem to me one is an attack stemming from fearful thoughts and leading to a physical reaction, while the other is fearful thoughts stemming from a physical reaction. I can be out enjoying my day or watching a great movie I’m into and launch into a massive attack from a strong set of PVCs. My two cents anyhow. =)
Thanks for sharing.
For the past 2 years, I get anxious if I am not home/in bed by a certain time. If my husband wants to go to a movie in the evening, I always suggest the afternoon showing. If we are out past 8pm and I think about it, I get tunnel vision and it’s like I can hear everyone’s conversation around me and it’s very unnerving. Also, it seems as the lights are dimming with this happens. There have been times, when it was 1am and I was crying just wishing I could go to sleep. I physically start to feel sick if it is late (past 10pm) and I am not in the bed. What could be the cause of all this?
I don’t know the cause, as I have not examined you. You can start by figuring out what it is you are fearful of…what are the triggers and what are the thoughts that lead to the anxiety?