Many people suffer from anxiety which is characterized by uneasiness, nervousness, apprehension and worry. Some of us suffer from anxiety all through the day, some just during the morning, and some others from night time anxiety. If this is the case for you these simple evening habits for night anxiety can lead you towards excellent lifestyle habits.
Anxiety that occurs late in the day and results in nighttime anxiety can be really cumbersome as it can reduce your energy, use up your free time, and reduce your quality of sleep.
Anxiety looks for more anxiety, so don’t be surprised when it arises spontaneously at night.
The question is are you well prepared to deal with these feelings and inner chatter when it arises. The goal is to allow a feeling to stay as a feeling and not allow I to turn into an emotion. Once anxiety as an emotion overtakes the mind and body it becomes very difficult to reverse through conscious applications.
Let’s begin changing the way you do things in the evening, here are 10 evening habits for night anxiety:
1. Deep Breathing practices
Mindfulness, i.e., increased awareness about the current state of affairs, can be achieved through meditation. It helps connect the body and the mind. It helps make sense of all the chaos through the day so that we can find peace and still the racing thoughts which can deprive you of a good night’s sleep. Meditation concentrates our focus on soothing the mind in turn alleviating stress and anxiety.
Deep breathing techniques can be used to slow down the heart rate and respiration and ensure deeper and fuller breathing. The body and mind subsequently relax, thus reducing nighttime anxiety. Here are some great ideas for breathing exercises for anxiety:
2. Aim for a peaceful evening; set goals and visualize success
We are all preoccupied through the day with our jobs and other activities so much so that we hardly have any time to think about other things. It is therefore essential to set a goal at the very start of each day to ensure that your evening will be peaceful, no matter how bad the day may have turned out to be.
Setting a clear morning intention is like a seed that blossoms and becomes a part of reality.
Aim for a peaceful evening and remind yourself of it every day, then such determination is more likely to result in you enjoying a peaceful evening with no night time anxiety. You can set a goal to stop thinking about the day when driving home from work, when you reach a particular place on the drive home; or you may set an alarm as a reminder for it.
Once there, visualize that your evening is going to be peaceful and enjoyable. Keep practicing visual imagery exercises (future reframing can be done through THIS YouTube video) of success until it becomes a reflex response. This will ensure that you are building excellent evening habits for night anxiety.
3. Practice becoming present
Anxiety can often lead to detachment and dissociation from the present moment. It is therefore essential to stay grounded to the present to ensure that anxiety does not become all consuming. Make time for mindfulness meditation sessions which will help you stay grounded.
4. Spending time with loved ones
Talking about the events of the day with family or friends can assist in reflecting, de-stressing, and recharging oneself.
Swapping stories about the day with your loved ones can not only contribute towards a deeper and more lasting relationship, but can also act as a reminder that we are loved and cared for by others.
This can most definitely become an excellent evening habit for night anxiety. This will go a long way in calming down your nerves and preventing episodes of night time anxiety. Even playing with pets can be beneficial emotionally as well as physiologically as it tends to reduce blood pressure and stress.
5. Ensure time for unwinding
Evenings after work are never free time. In fact, most of us have tasks that we need to finish before bed. This prevents us from properly relaxing for rest at night.
You can allot some time for transitioning between two tasks or more set for the evening. This will offer you the space to unwind and be free. It will also prevent you from getting overwhelmed when you try to do as much stuff as possible before going to sleep.
6. Take a bath or a hot shower
In case those short periods of rest between evening tasks are not sufficient to unwind for the day, you can go for a hot shower or soak in the bath to help the body and mind relax and let go.
You can also go for a short stroll around the neighbourhood, stretch, listen to an audiobook (here are some of mine), or sip a cup of chamomile tea to help ease into sleep. All excellent evening habits for night anxiety.
7. Keep a journal of everyday events
Write down a list of all the things you learned from your mistakes along with all the inner and behavioural wins you had from the day. Journalling is a powerful and essential practice for overcoming anxiety, watch the video below to get more ideas.
8. Plan for the next day
A lot of people suffer from night time anxiety as they are unsure of the next day and worry about all the things that could go wrong.
Writing a to-do list for the next day can help you be prepared and ready to take on the world. Subsequently, you won’t be tossing and turning in your bed during the night and you will naturally create excellent evening habits for night anxiety.
9. Plan for a good sleep
The body and the mind are often exhausted by the time it is time to sleep. It is therefore essential for us to sleep deep enough in order to be fresh for a new day.
Planning for and imaging a comfortable sleep can help achieve REM sleep. REM sleep is when we are recharging our willpower and activating the healing mechanisms present within the body. This will ensure that night time anxiety is kept under control and that you have good quality sleep.
10. Exercise
Regular exercise can help release endorphins into the bloodstream, which in turn can reduce the stress hormones, alleviate anxiety, and prevent night time anxiety. It’s best not to exercise right before bed, but a few hours prior. The feeling of emotional release and lightness will carry you into the night.
These evening habits for night anxiety may or may not heal your anxiety disorder completely. However, they will accommodate a set dedicated program that will resolve the negative emotional bag we carry in our minds and bodies. Start today, you won’t regret it.
