There are no proofs that anxiety causes sleep apnea , but it’s possible vice versa. Anyway, healthy and uninterrupted sleep are essential for our well being – physical as well as mental. So, the only thing that comes on my mind, if you don’t have a quality sleep, you become more irritable, less motivated and certainly more anxious. But, that’s only my opinion.
Here are some natural methods to beat sleep disorder:
- Keep it cool. Your body temperature heavily influences the quality of your sleep (i.e. the amount of REM sleep, which is where the magic happens).
- Go to bed at regular hours. Your brain loves habits, so having a nighttime routine can work wonders for your sleep.
- Use your bed only for sleep. Your brain responds to cues, so use that to your advantage. (it should be very comfortable. Better buy some new mattress or a pillow)
- Use background noise. Humans haven’t evolved sleeping behind tightly shut windows. For thousands of years, we’ve slept outdoors, with the wind blowing in our ears, a river flowing nearby and wild dogs howling in the distance.
Hope this help!
I had this same issue, however I had to start with a home sleep study (the insurance paid) and then I was able to do an in-lab sleep study. Turns out I do have sleep apnea and with the c-pap machine I wake up felling much better AND my depression isn't nearly as bad. Good luck!
Sleep apnea is just one of 3 major types of sleep disorders, but it's one that doctors and dentists make a lot of money off of so they like to diagnose people with it. If you had it, you'd most likely be waking up, falling asleep, waking up, falling asleep, or, you'd be not noticing at all and waking up tired. If you're waking up and can't get back to sleep, that's probably not apnea. Obviously, I can't diagnose you, but what you're describing is either medication induced insomnia or that caused by a mental problem. As for your insurance company, most do cover sleep studies, but only if you do them in a certain way and get pre-approval. For example, they might require as a first step that you do a home study for apnea. You might want to look into it further. But from your description, it sounds like something else. If you were sleeping next to someone they could tell you if you were waking up repeatedly. I think my wife has it sometimes, but it doesn't bother her at all -- it often doesn't. What you might tell us is how much you exercise, what your habits are, how close to bedtime you eat, whether you meditate or do other relaxation techniques, whether you've learned something you can do in bed called progressive muscle relaxation to try to get back to sleep, whether you tried something like melatonin or Calms Forte or chamomile tea or some other gentle relaxant, whether you go to bed too late or too early. All the usual suspects. A lot of people just go to bed earlier than suits them because of school or work requirements. So much can affect a particular person. But again, an apnea sufferer generally would just go to sleep again and keep waking up for brief periods of time and wake up feeling not rested. You're waking up and not being able to relax back to sleep at all.
I had a sleep disorder for a decade and didn't realize the problem was not relaxing my mind when I woke up. I read a book about it and have self cured. Perhaps you can find something useful in a sleep disorder book too.